


You see it? You see it? It’s Loona

by ichiro51



Category: LOONA (Korea Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:46:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 43,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25609837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ichiro51/pseuds/ichiro51
Summary: A group of young con artists come to town and experience new difficulties- namely, love.
Relationships: Hyejoo/Jeno, Jinsoul/Jaehyun
Kudos: 1





	1. Hyejoo

Chapter 1: Hyejoo  
Crisp autumn leaves crunched under my boots as I walked towards the apartment complex. I closed my eyes and breathed in the autumn air as I took in the new environment around me. The apartment complex was a simple set of identical, homey, brick buildings that overlooked a small pond. I made my way towards the building that I was to live in, and carefully rolled my suitcase along with me. I felt a sick feeling in my stomach as the realization that I was alone fully hit me. My knees felt weak and began to shake, but I grabbed the handle of my suitcase to keep me from collapsing.  
The others are inside. Waiting for you. I repeated in my head.  
A heavy sensation came upon me and I started to feel dizzy. Before I knew it, everything turned black, and all I could see was an image in my head of me. By myself in a dark room. Alone.  
Alone.  
I tried to shake the image from my mind before the darkness took over me, but I couldn’t. All I could see in my mind was a young girl, with big chocolate eyes that were filled with fear. She opened her mouth and a piercing shriek rang in my head. My head jerked back in pain, and I tried to pry my eyes open so I could end this all too familiar nightmare, but they refused to open. It was as if they wanted me to suffer, to relive this nightmare. I put my hands onto my head in frustration, as if to try to shake the nightmare out of my mind, but it wouldn't come out. It was stuck in my brain, to haunt me. Forever.  
I cried out in agony against my own brain. All of a sudden the sound of my heavy breathing was all that played in my head. Then I felt my arms sway back and forth and the whole world became a giant, dark blur. Finally, my knees gave out and I collapsed, bracing myself for the impact from hitting the hard gravel, but instead all I could feel was the warmth of an arm against mine.  
There was someone else out here?  
“Are- Are you okay?” I heard a male voice ask me.  
No.  
I had to try to fight this. I couldn’t let this take over me. I forced open my eyes, and all I saw was a blurry image of a young male’s face. He seemed to be genuinely worried about me, for his eyes lit up when he saw my eyes flutter open.  
“Oh, good, you’re awake. I was afraid you passed out.”  
I groaned in response. I tried to move my arms and legs, but they were stuck in place. My cheeks turned a rosy red when I realized that the man’s arms were still under mine.  
“You… You can put me down…” I mumbled, flickering in and out of consciousness.  
I tried to make myself stay conscious, but my body had other plans, for I abruptly slipped from the man’s arms, and onto the sidewalk. I was suddenly exhausted. I could hear muffled, worried sounds coming from the man who had caught me, and I wished I could tell him that everything was alright. That this was normal. But I couldn’t.  
I was helpless.  
“Hyejoo? Hyejoo!” I heard a familiar voice call out.  
Chaewon.  
What was she doing back here? She was supposed to be already inside the apartment.  
“What happened?” I heard Chaewon question the man.  
“She collapsed. I- I don’t really know what happened…”  
He continued to explain what happened, but I couldn’t hear it over the ringing sound that repeated in my head.  
“Hyejoo? Hyejoo, can you hear me?” Chaewon softly asked. “It’s alright, Hyejoo. I’m here.”  
Chaewon is here. I’m not alone. I tried to tell myself.  
Using all the strength I could muster up, I threw my upper half up from the ground and opened my eyes. I became dizzy and started gasping for breath, but the relieved look on Chaewon’s face made it worth it.  
“I knew you could hear me,” she said with a small smile.  
I smiled back weakly. My legs were still shaking, but I managed to make them stand up on their own.  
I turned to the man who had caught me earlier. He had a somewhat puzzled look planted on his face.  
“Thanks for catching me,” I sheepishly said. “I’m sorry if I worried you.”  
“Oh, um, it’s no problem. Are- Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine. Trust me, this sort of thing happens all the time,” I added to reduce the awkwardness I felt.  
Unfortunately, that seemed to make the man even more worried about me, for his eyes widened for a split second.  
“Well, not all the time… Most of the time I just get dizzy, and feel like passing out. But I never actually pass out. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s-”  
“Oh, stop rambling,” Chaewon rolled her eyes at me.  
What was wrong with me? Why was I suddenly feeling so nervous?  
“I’m sorry about Hyejoo. She’s a little crazy,” Chaewon said with a charming smile.  
I tried to not let the disgust I felt transfer onto my face. Was Chaewon actually flirting with this man? I looked up at the man to get a better look at him, and found him staring right at me. I looked away quickly, but could still sense his gaze, which was surprisingly soft. He seemed to be genuinely worried about me. Maybe he really did believe I was crazy.  
"We should probably get inside the building now, Chaewon."  
"Fine," Chaewon reluctantly agreed with a sigh.  
“Um, well it was nice to meet you two. My name’s Jeno, by the way,” the man said with a forced smile.  
Even though he was trying to mask his confusion, I could see it in his eyes.  
“It’s nice to meet you, too. I’m Chaewon, and this is Hyejoo.”  
Chaewon gestured to me and then gave Jeno a dazzling smile and tucked a piece of hair on top of her ear, flirtatiously.  
“Are you done flirting, Chaewon? Or can we go now?” I dryly questioned with a disgusted look planted on my face that I couldn’t help.  
Chaewon’s eyes widened and she barked a forced laugh.  
“Oh, Hyejoo. You’re so funny. I guess I’ll see you later, Jeno.”  
Before Jeno had a chance to respond, Chaewon grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the apartment buildings.  
“What was that for?” she hissed into my ear.  
A smirk crossed my face. “Well, all that flirting was unnecessary.”  
A frown tugged on the corners of Chaewon’s lips, but she didn’t respond. We walked to the building in silence, even though I could sense there was something that Chaewon wished to say.  
Chaewon had and I had been close friends ever since elementary school. I had always been somewhat of a lone wolf, but it all changed when Chaewon inserted herself in my life due to her friendly personality. She had seen me peacefully eating my lunch, alone. See, I had not always feared loneliness. I used to always embrace it, for it was all I experienced at school. But when Chaewon came up to me that day during lunch, and introduced herself, I instantly liked the feeling of having someone there beside me. Even though she was one year older than me, and I had tended to feel intimidated by the older students, I felt comfortable around her. Finally I had someone that I could rely on and pour out my feelings to. Soon, we were inseparable.  
We did everything together. We found out what we had in common, what we didn’t, and that we were both only children. Then, one day Chaewon took me to her house after school, and I met her parents. All I could remember was having an uneasy feeling in my stomach when I was first introduced to them. They were so enthusiastic, and their movements were so swift. The way that they talked also was a hint that something was off about them. All I could remember about their speech was that it was very accusatory, and had a sharp edge to it. Their smiles were sickly sweet and fake, and hypnotizing. I held my ground and tried my best to not let myself be hypnotized by what seemed to be friendly smiles and sincere actions. But they seemed to have a soft spot for me. They probably thought that a naive, innocent, and young girl like me was probably easy to control.  
They were wrong.  
I had wanted to ask Chaewon about her parents, but Chaewon had always been a good liar. Except that I could see through her and her lies. I could read Chaewon like a book, but I never told her that. I acted like the naive girl she thought I was. I had come to the conclusion that all parents had their quirks. Despite their odd behavior, I wished that I had parents like Chaewon's. Ones that care for me and acknowledge me as their daughter.  
My dad had died when I was a toddler, so I had lived with my mom, who was an avid drinker, and worked long shifts at a grocery store. She would often come home drunk and throw another beer bottle on the floor. Our small apartment was full of them. My mom was constantly angry and yelled at me for the smallest things. She threatened me whenever I didn’t clean my room or clean up after her. Sometimes she would strike me.  
But I wasn’t afraid of her.  
Sometimes I would cry, though. As tough as I was, seeing my mom not care about her only daughter broke me. I felt sorry for her.  
My mom would never come home until midnight, so I was always left alone in an empty house. I felt like I was living by myself. I slowly grew afraid of being alone. Of having no one there for me. Any small noise or squeak frightened me. Shadows in my room played tricks on my eyes, imitating another person in my room, and I would always hide under my covers.  
It was ironic really. I had gone from embracing loneliness to being afraid of it because of that.  
I had always wondered if my mom didn't love or care for me, and that thought alone pierced my heart. I would try to do everything to please her, but it still didn't seem good enough.  
And then one day my entire world came crashing down.  
I will never forget that day.  
My mom had come home drunk at midnight as usual. But this day was different. I saw the rage in her eyes as she stepped into our apartment and I instantly ran into my room. I wasn’t scared. I just didn’t want my mom to take her anger out on me. I locked the door but stood behind the door just in case. It still wasn’t enough. I had no idea what my mom was mad about, and I never found out. Before I knew it, my mom was screaming at me to come out of my room and clean up the pile of beer bottles that were collecting on the floor. I didn’t respond. I stayed in my room, hoping she would calm down. I think that just made her more angry. I didn’t hear her for a few seconds, and I assumed she had fallen asleep on the couch or something. But the next thing I knew, she was throwing beer bottles at my bedroom door. I still didn’t let fear take over. There was no way she could get into my room.  
I was wrong.  
She managed to kick a hole in the cheap door, and then proceeded to break the rest of it. Her fiery eyes were directed at me and she screamed at me like there was no tomorrow. I had no escape. I quickly looked around my small room for any exit I could. The only one I could find was the window. There was no way I could get it open quickly without my mom noticing. I quickly tried to run past her towards the broken door, but she grabbed me by my legs and I fell on my face. I tried my best to get away from her, but she wouldn’t let go of my tiny legs.  
Next came her ranting about something that I couldn’t understand, because her words were slurred. I swung my arms at her, trying to get her to let go of me, but that still didn’t work. I knew what was coming next and I wanted to avoid it at all costs.  
But I couldn’t. Before I knew it, a broken beer bottle was slammed into my back. My eyes welled up with tears due to the pain. I waited for her to leave so I could try to treat the wound myself, but unexpectedly, she struck me again. The broken glass tore my clothes and buried into my skin. She repeatedly struck me, and each time I cried out for her to stop. I couldn’t help it. There was no way I could have held it in any longer. Fear had completely taken over me.  
It never stopped. Until I passed out. The next day I woke up in a hospital bed, with my neighbor standing next to me.  
“What… What happened?” I groaned.  
My neighbor, Mrs. Kim, breathed a sigh of relief and gave me a sad look. “Are you alright, Hyejoo?” she asked.  
I hesitated. I wasn’t alright. It wasn’t only the physical pain that hurt. But the fact that my mom would go this far was what hurt the most. Maybe she really didn’t care about me.  
I began to cry, and my breathing became heavy. What was happening to me?  
“I- I should go get the doctor,” Mrs. Kim said, clearly worried about me.  
“No!” I cried out.  
Mrs. Kim looked at me in surprise.  
“Please. Don’t leave me,” I said in a whisper. I didn’t want to be alone, I couldn’t bear being alone anymore. I suddenly drifted back to sleep. I never did hear her response.  
Later, I found out that Mrs. Kim had heard screaming coming from my apartment, so she went to see if we were okay. Our door was unlocked, so she made her way to my room, where she found my mom in a pond of my blood- I had already passed out. Mrs. Kim was in shock and called the police. My mom threatened to hurt her, but she quickly crashed and passed out. An ambulance took me to the hospital, and Mrs. Kim followed, while the police took my mom.  
Nothing was the same after that night. I had several broken bones, and had to stay in the hospital for a while, but while I recovered came the question of where I was to live. I had no other family that I knew of. Then, Chaewon’s family offered to foster me. I was suspicious of their intentions of course, but Chaewon was elated over the thought of us becoming siblings. I had nowhere else to go, so of course I went to live with them.  
There I found out the truth. The answers to all my suspicions.


	2. Jinsoul

Chapter 2: Jinsoul

I made my way around my new apartment room. It was bigger than I expected. That being said, it wasn’t that huge, but it was bigger than my previous apartment. There was a kitchen, a small living room, two bedrooms, but only one bathroom. Which was fine, since there were only three of us in this apartment. I studied the two bedrooms. They were basically identical. I assumed I would be sharing a room with Yerim as usual, leaving Jungeun with a room to herself.

“Jinsoul? Are you already in here?” 

“Yeah, Yerim.” 

I made my way to the front door to greet Yerim, but was surprised to see a young girl standing next to Yerim. She had childlike features, and was pretty short. Who was this girl? Her eyes shone with determination and she stood tall.

“Jinsoul, this is Yeojin. She is our new member.” 

New member? Haseul never mentioned anything like this to me. I frowned. Jungeun probably knew about this, but of course she didn’t tell me. 

I crossed my arms. “We don’t need a new member. Odd Eye Circle is fine as we are,” I argued stubbornly.

Why in the world would Haseul send a child to work with us? Odd Eye Circle was hardly a child's play. 

“Um, she’s not in Odd Eye Circle, Jinsoul,” Yerim awkwardly explained. “She’s going to be joining ⅓, but she’ll be living in our room since we have the least amount of members.” 

⅓? This small child was going to be joining the riskiest Loona unit? 

“Are you really cut out to join ⅓?” I sneered at Yeojin.

Surprisingly she held her ground and glared at me. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.” 

I stared at her in surprise. “How old are you?”

“18.”

“18?” 

She was six years younger than me, and her appearance made her seem like she was still a child. 

“Well, then welcome to Loona. Good luck trying to keep up with the other members of ⅓,” I said, not purposely trying to scare her. 

“Yeah. You really should have joined Odd Eye Circle. We’re much more fun than those old hags,” Yerim chimed in. 

"What does Odd Eye Circle mean?” Yeojin curiously asked.

I stared at Yerim at surprise and shrugged. I had no idea what it meant. 

“Jungeun named it. I think,” Yerim answered.

“Did someone call my name?” 

All three of us turned around at the sound of the voice of the leader of Loona Odd Eye Circle. Jungeun. Jungeun’s blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her menacing eyes glared down upon Yeojin.

“Who are you?”

Ah. So Haseul hadn’t told Jungeun after all. 

“This is Yeojin. She’s the newest member of Loona, and Loona ⅓. She’s staying with us, though.” Yerim explained, probably tired of having to recite the same speech.

Jungeun studied Yeojin, her eyes narrowed at the small girl.

“She looks like a child. Why has Haseul sent us a child? She’s only going to slow us down.” 

“I disagree. Yeojin is hardly a child. She’s 18. Only one year younger than Hyejoo, and Hyejoo joined us when she was 17,” Yerim explained. 

Why was Yerim standing up for this girl? She hardly knew her. 

“Have you two forgotten? We’re all family here at Loona. And that means we’re there for each other no matter what. We may not be the most honest people, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be loyal,” Yerim ranted disapprovingly, her arms crossed.

Yeojin frowned. “That doesn’t make much sense.” 

“Well, it’s like this, kid. Here at Loona, we promise to stay loyal to each other no matter what,” Junguen explained, putting an arm around Yeojin, clearly making her uncomfortable.

“We are basically family,” Yerim chimed in with a supportive smile directed towards Yeojin, and glared at me and Jungeun. 

Gosh. I hated it when Yerim was right. As the youngest member of Odd Eye Circle, she was usually the one who needed to be corrected. 

“Hey, Odd Eye Circle, Haseul wants us all in the ⅓ room so she can talk to us,” 1/3 member Heejin announced, standing in front of the door. 

I groaned. Haseul’s meetings were usually useless. All she did was review things we already knew and basically give us a pep talk that most people ignored. As the leader of all of Loona, Haseul was the one in charge. And she loved to boss others around because of it.  
I trudged towards ⅓’s room with Yeojin and the rest of Odd Eye Circle. All eleven- er, twelve including Yeojin, members of Loona crammed into ⅓’s living room. Wait, not all of us were there. I quickly counted the amount of people in the room. 10. There were two missing. I frowned as I tried to find out who the missing members were, but my thoughts were interrupted by Haseul.

“Alright, everyone. I’m glad that you all made it into town safely. I-”

Haseul was cut off by the leader of Loona yyxy, Sooyoung. “Haseul, wait. Chaewon and Hyejoo aren't here yet.” 

Haseul frowned. “Well, where are they?”

Yyxy member Jiwoo shrugged. “Sooyoung and I have no idea. Chaewon went outside to find Hyejoo a while ago, but we haven’t either of them since.”

“Great,” Haseul groaned. “Who in the world left Hyejoo alone?”

It was an unwritten rule between the Loona members to never leave Hyejoo alone, or let her go somewhere by herself. Everytime she was left alone she would have a panic attack. 

“Someone should contact Chaewon and Hyejoo to see if they’re alright-”

“Oh, we’re fine.”

Everyone turned towards the door at the sound of that familiar voice. Sure enough, it was Chaewon and Hyejoo. Hyejoo looked pale, and her dark, brown hair was a mess. Her legs were wobbling, and she had an arm around Chaewon’s shoulder, to try to hold herself up. 

“I- I need to sit down,” Hyejoo said before almost falling.

Chaewon led Hyejoo to the couch to lay down.  
“Sorry,” Chaewon said sheepishly. “I went inside the building to help Jiwoo with our computer equipment and promised Hyejoo I would be back with her in a second. But it took longer than expected and when I came back outside Hyejoo had already passed out and totally scared some guy who was walking to the parking lot.” 

Haseul shook her head in disgust. “I keep telling you guys, don’t leave Hyejoo alone. This better not happen again.”

Chaewon quietly took her seat and avoided Haseul’s eye contact. 

“Anyway, now that we’re finally all here, I would like to introduce you guys to the newest member of Loona, Yeojin,” Haseul gestured to Yeojin. 

Everyone instantly turned their heads to Yeojin, to study our newest member. I could see the shock on the Loona member’s faces as Haseul made the announcement. We hadn’t had a new member since Hyejoo joined two years ago, and everyone expected Loona to be a set group of eleven members. 

“Yeojin is going to be joining ⅓, but she is living with Odd Eye Circle,” Haseul continued. “I hope you all make her feel welcome.” 

A low murmur ran through the room as we all began to whisper to each other about the sudden news. 

“But, we have much more to discuss than just that. I have given each of you a map of Polarisville, and a calendar as always. The date to remember is December 10th, which gives up almost two months to pull this off. Sooyoung, Jungeun, and I have individual assignments for the members of our respective groups.” 

I already knew what my assignment was going to be.  
We had pulled off several scams like this before. So these two months should be a breeze. 

On December 10th, there was going to be a huge art festival and sale in Polarisville. That's where the infamous Loona comes in. Our members at Loona know quite a few people who can paint quality replicas and just low quality paintings that look professional. 

This was going to be a huge scam. Everything would have to be executed perfectly. But it always was.  
This was the fourth year of Loona. We had been at this for four years now doing whatever we can to make money and provide for one another. 

Loona was started by a young scam artist who was too poor to afford college and didn't want to pay the loans in the future. So she got together with her two best friends, one of which was a computer hacker, and a very young thief, and they began what we know today as Loona. Later, Loona gained new members such as myself. With every new member, there came more difficulty, but more reward. Every Loona member was handpicked by the three leaders of Loona: Haseul, Jungeun, and Sooyoung, the ones who started Loona.

There are three subunits in Loona. First, Haseul led Loona ⅓. ⅓ are the masterminds of Loona. They all have had previous experience with all different types of scams. The members of ⅓ are Haseul, Gaahei, Heejin, Hyunjin, and now Yeojin.

The second Loona unit is Loona Yyxy, which is led by Sooyoung. They are the brains of Loona. They all have had computer experience and knowledge of how to properly hack. Sooyoung, Jiwoo, Chaewon, and Hyejoo are the members of yyxy.

The third and last Loona unit is Loona Odd Eye Circle. My unit. We are the brawn of Loona. Whatever the other units need to complete their assignments, we steal for them. Our unit only has three members, Jungeun, Yerim, and me, but we’re the most effective. We’re the only unit that has never been, or almost been, caught before. We are smart and sly, and nothing gets past us. I’m not purposely trying to brag. We’re just really good, that’s all. 

I assumed that my first assignment would be stealing an old, used car for us to use while we’re in Polarisville, as I usually do. It usually doesn’t take me a while to find a college kid who’s using his mom’s old mini van. They all take one look at me and fall for me instantly. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy for me to steal from them.

Doing the same thing constantly may seem tiresome for some people, but with Loona, it’s never boring.


	3. Jisung

Chapter 3: Jisung

I stood idly behind the cash register, my mind wandering as I stared out the window. Autumn had almost completely taken over Polarisville as colored leaves had already started falling. 

“Excuse me?”

I almost jumped back in surprise, completely startled by the sound of an unexpected customer. She had a surprisingly raspy and low voice for her appearance. She was short. Very short. I had to be almost a foot taller than her. She had light brown, straight hair that was in a bob that rested on her shoulders, and very young features. Her dark eyes were under thin, brown glasses, and they were narrowed at me in an impatient way. How long had she been standing there? 

“Er, sorry. Yes?”

I tried to focus on my job as the young girl ordered, but my mind was focused on other things. I really needed Chenle here. He always made sure I stay focused. 

“This is a nice bakery,” the young girl remarked, looking around as if she was some sort of critic. 

“Um, thanks,” I awkwardly responded. 

It always made me uncomfortable when customers tried to hold a conversation with me, but I always tried my best to talk back with them. 

The young girl was in the middle of paying for her food, when the door swung open, and in walked Chenle, my coworker and roommate. 

"Hey, Jisung," Chenle called out with a smile as he joined me behind the counter. 

I frowned. "What are you doing here, Chenle? I thought you were coming in later."

"I was. But I thought you might need some help," Chenle explained. He opened his mouth, to explain further, but he finally saw the young girl standing impatiently at the counter, still trying to pay for her food.

"Jisung! You never told me there was a customer here. Stop listening to me and get her food already."

I rolled my eyes at Chenle's bossy behavior and finished serving the girl. She made her way out of the bakery, leaving it deserted, apart from me and Chenle.

Chenle and I had just met each other this year, when we became roommates in our college dorm. We had gone to the same high school, but weren’t really friends. I wasn’t a very social person. I wasn’t very comfortable with meeting new people. I liked to stay with the same familiar people. But that all changed of course when I met Chenle. We quickly found out that we both shared an interest in baking, which surprised me. I had always kept my love of baking to myself. I was never interested in sharing it with others, while Chenle did. He was used to a lot of attention, coming from a rich family. 

Chenle had later told me that some friends of his family were opening up a bakery. And as they say, the rest was history. 

Chenle and I would come in early before classes to bake the food, and then we would just fill in whenever we didn’t have classes. We never had a set schedule, which threw me off sometimes, but we basically ended up coming in at the same times everyday. Usually we worked with the owner’s son, Kun, who was the nicest man I’ve ever met. He was studying at law school, but always made time to help out his family at the bakery. I was studying business at college, so Kun’s family helped a lot, because of their first hand experience with running a business. 

Everyday was enjoyable, yet predictable. Every weekday I would wake up, go to the bakery, go to class, go back to the bakery, do homework, and then go to bed. The weekends were a little unpredictable, but not much. But that’s how I lived. Chenle thought I was in a rut, but I didn’t think there’s anything wrong with having a schedule.


	4. Hyejoo

I sat down on my bed and laid my laptop in front of me. This was my personal laptop, and I made sure to do no hacking on it. Yet, it was still helpful for research. I researched different stores and restaurants in the town, as I always did when we moved to a new town. See, while my unit yyxy, were usually the ones who went out into town, due to our identity usually being hidden by a screen when we commit our crimes, I usually always stayed inside our apartment. I didn’t like to go out. I would have to go with someone else, which was annoying for the other members of Loona, for they had their own schedules. It just wasn’t worth it. So instead, most of the time I stayed inside. Sometimes I would take a walk with another Loona member, usually Chaewon, just to get outside. 

“Hyejoo?” 

My head jerked up at the sound of my name. Before I knew it, Jiwoo had walked into my room and jumped on my bed. I scrambled to close my laptop, but was too slow.

“Hyejoo, please don’t tell me you’ve been researching the local shops again,” Jiwoo said sadly. 

She obviously felt bad for me. I didn’t want her pity. She didn’t understand. This was mostly my choice. If I really wanted to get out, then I would. 

“I just wanted to see what there is to do around here.”

Jiwoo sighed, her chocolate eyes filled with pity for me. Then, something switched in her, and her eyes lit up, and a mischievous smile crossed her face. That wasn’t a good sign. I eyed her suspiciously. 

“You know… there’s not much to do today. We just got here yesterday. Why don’t we do some exploring of the town?”

I paled. No. I- I couldn’t. What if… What if I got separated from Jiwoo? What if I got lost? What if I ended up all alone? No. I was better here. Inside. 

“I- You know I can’t, Jiwoo.”

“Hyejoo, you'll never know if you don’t try,” Jiwoo stubbornly said as she jumped off my bed and grabbed her shoes. 

She wasn't going to take no for an answer, so I reluctantly put away my laptop and grabbed my shoes. 

"Where are we even going?" I asked Jiwoo.

Jiwoo shrugged. "Anywhere."

Anywhere was a pretty broad topic. 

Jiwoo led me out of our apartment room, and a feeling of nausea swept over me. I took a deep breath and tried to reassure myself I would be alright. After all, Jiwoo wouldn't let me get hurt. 

Jiwoo.

Jiwoo was here.

I wasn't alone. 

I closed my eyes and took in a breath of relief. I needed to be brave. 

I opened my eyes to see Jiwoo frowning at me, concerned. I shot back a weak smile and continued to follow her out of the apartment building. 

"Are we going to walk?" I asked Jiwoo.

"Yeah. We don't have a car yet and it shouldn't be that hard to walk around in a town like this."

We had made a lot of money from scams in the past, but we've never bought a car. Instead, Jinsoul steals one every time we move, and then we get rid of it before we leave. We have a truck, but we only use it for moving in the fear of someone finding out our identity and tracking us down. That's why we haven't bought a car either. 

I followed Jiwoo as we exited the complex, and walked through the parking lot. I looked around, remembering how this was near where I had almost passed out when we first got here. 

My thoughts were interrupted by a scream from Jiwoo. I looked up to see a car a foot or so away from my body. My eyes widened in panic. I was frozen in fear and shock. 

Jiwoo ran to where I was, took my hand, and tried to lead me away from the car, but my legs didn’t seem to work, and froze in place.

“Hyejoo. Hyejoo! Hyejoo, what’s wrong?” Jiwoo grabbed me by the shoulders and began to shake me. Fear and panic shone in her eyes as she realized that I wasn’t able to move.

All of a sudden I heard a car door slam, and I heard the sound of footsteps approaching me. It was… a man? And… he looked familiar… I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I was sure I had seen the soft features of this man before.

“Is she alright?” the man asked.

His soft voice… I knew I had heard it somewhere. But where? 

"I- I don't know," Jiwoo admitted in panic. "Hyejoo? Hyejoo, can you hear me?"

I tried to nod, but my head was frozen in place. I tried to open my mouth to speak instead, but all I was able to get out was a quiet groan. 

“You’re alive!” Jiwoo exclaimed in relief and proceeded to almost knock me over with a hug. “Wow, Hyejoo, we really can’t take you anywhere.”

I tried my best to smile weakly at that. I then tried to move my feet with success. What had happened to me?  
“You can move alright?” Jiwoo asked, concerned. 

I nodded. I turned to the man, to see his dark eyes filled with concern and worry for me. Wait a minute… I did know this man… I had seen his worry-filled eyes before…

I almost let out a gasp when I realized how I knew the man. He was the one who caught me after I almost passed out the day before. Wow. I wonder what he thought of me now. What was his name…? Ah. Jeno. That’s what it was.

“We should get going, Jiwoo,” I weakly said.

Jiwoo looked at me in surprise. “You sure you don’t want to go back inside?”

“Yeah.”

Jiwoo looked at me confused, and shook her head. She then turned to Jeno and glared at him.

“Next time you almost hit Hyejoo with your little car I won’t be so easy on you,” she said, walking away from him.

“Sorry about that. I guess I am a walking magnet for disaster,” I awkwardly explained to Jeno before scurrying over to where Jiwoo was.

“That inconsiderate man,” Jiwoo fumed. “He could have hit you.”

“But he didn’t. And I should have watched where I was going.”

Jiwoo rolled her eyes. “I still blame that guy. Though, he was pretty cute.”

This time I was the one to roll my eyes. 

“Olivia, are you sure you’re up for going into town? I mean, you almost got hit.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but Jiwoo, don’t call me that,” I hissed at the use of my alias. 

When I was out in public, I was Son Hyejoo, but when I was behind a computer screen, I was Olivia Hye. A name that had been chosen for me by Chaewon’s parents.   
They were the reasons I began to hack. They taught me and Chaewon everything they knew. See, when I first moved in with them, I immediately found out why there had always been something that was off about them. They were professional hackers. I wasn’t very surprised. They told me they were going to raise me to carry on the family business with Chaewon, and I didn’t oppose them. At that point I was too afraid of them abandoning me and leaving me alone to care about anything else. Maybe if I had things would be different. I lived my whole life letting others choose what I should do with my life. I had given up all control over my life over my fears. And I was perfectly fine with that. 

When I was living with Chaewon, I had a desk in my room where my laptop always sat. It was the place where I felt the most comfortable. Behind a computer screen. I could care less about the fact that I was being taught something that was illegal. I had a home, and that was all that mattered to me.

Soon enough, Chaewon was about to graduate from high school. She wanted to go to college, but her parents had other plans for her. They had heard of a group of young criminals who were searching for a few computer hackers. Chaewon begged her parents not to make her go, so they decided to make me go with her so that Chaewon would at least not lose me. So I dropped out of school and joined Loona. I was always an intelligent girl, so I didn’t really have much to lose by dropping out of school. I never wanted to go to college anyway. 

I was surprised at how friendly the girls of Loona were. Even though I was the youngest and couldn’t be left alone or taken out anywhere, they still treated me as a sibling like Chaewon did. Chaewon wasn’t too thrilled to be apart of Loona, but she slowly warmed up to the other girls. Especially to the other yyxy members. Before Chaewon and I joined Loona, yyxy only had two members. Sooyoung and Jiwoo. They instantly took Chaewon and I under their wings. 

“Hyejoo, you okay?” Jiwoo asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“You’ve been spaced out.”

“Ah. I’ve just been thinking. Anyway, where are we going?”

Jiwoo’s eyes twinkled. “The mall.”

I took a deep breath and tried to prepare myself mentally. Jiwoo was with me. There was nothing to fear.

Loona would always be on my side until the end. I just needed to trust them.


	5. Jinsoul

"Jungeun, I'm going out," I called out, grabbing my shoes. 

"Alright," Jungeun called back.

"Where are you going, Jinsoul?" Yerim asked.

"I'm just going to scope out the town. And possibly get a car," I explained to Yerim. 

I was known in Loona as the one who went on my schedule. I would do things when I felt they should be done instead of going off of Jungeun's schedule. If I saw an opportunity, I would take it. Schedules and timing didn't mean anything to me. All that was important was that I get the job done. 

Jungeun and I always argued about that. Jungeun, along with the other Loona leaders, liked to have a plan for everything. I just liked to let them happen when the opportunity presented itself. 

I made my way down the quiet streets of Polarisville, studying the city as I went. Colored leaves filled the concrete sidewalks I walked on. The only thing I really knew about this city was that it was a college city. It was the home of Polarisville University, which from what I heard, was a pretty good school. 

My aimless wandering eventually led me to the college, to my surprise. I walked around the campus in curiosity. This campus was much bigger than the ones I had visited before. I had always wondered about what college was like. I never had the money or the dedication to go to college. It just wasn’t for me. 

Pity for Haseul filled me as my eyes peered around the college campus. Haseul had grown up poor, and attending a good college was always her dream, and the reason she founded Loona. But the more people that joined, the less money we would each get. And Haseul seemed to care more about the girls of Loona than going to college. 

As I continued to wander through the college, an idea finally hit me. The campus was filled with students’ cars. And although the campus had a steady flow of people walking around, I could easily be mistaken as a student, which wouldn’t turn any heads when I climbed into a random students’ car. Although… Getting into the car would be the problem considering the students. Maybe I would just have to wait until another time. Which was fine for me. 

I tried to make my way out of the campus, but every turn I made seemed to take me to just another dead end or random building. I tried to retrace my steps, but I ended up finding myself lost again. 

Right as I was wandering past the medical school building trying to find the road I had taken to enter the campus, a man walked out of the building. I frowned, thinking about my options. I wanted to ask him for directions, but I always tried my best not to talk to anyone, just as a precaution. But he was just a naive college student… Right?

Ah, but as I was known for making impulsive decisions, I decided to ask the student for directions.

“Excuse me?” I asked, trying to get the man’s attention.

“Yes?”

He looked up at me, and as our eyes met, I was suddenly blown away at how… handsome this man was…

Ah! Stay focused, Jinsoul! 

I couldn’t help it. His sandy brown hair looked surprisingly well maintained. Not what I was expecting from a college student. His dark eyes held a somewhat intense element to them. He had a certain… mature look to him. But I couldn’t get distracted. 

“Sorry, but do you know how to get to Felicity Street?” I asked the man.

The man gave me a weird look. “It’s on the other side of the law school building.” 

“And… Where’s that?”

The man threw another confused look my way. “Are you a student here?” 

“...No.”

“You’re not? Oh. That’s why you don’t know your way around here. To get to the law school building just follow that sidewalk until you come upon a… um… I think it’s a squarish building?” he sighed in frustration. “Listen, I don’t know how to describe it, but just follow that sidewalk and you’ll find it eventually. Felicity Street will be behind it,” he bluntly concluded, with a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice.

I could feel myself starting to get annoyed at this man. Why did the cute ones always have to be so rude? What a pity. 

“Thanks,” I dryly responded to the man. 

When I turned back to see if he had heard me, I saw him get into a familiar car. My eyes widened when I scanned the car. It was a 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser. I was the car thief in Loona for a reason. I had always had an obsession with cars. My parents had never cared about things like that, but I was always mesmerized by the different types of cars. Once I joined Loona my obsession had to take a specific turn. I became more interested in cars made around the time I was born. More specifically, the 90’s. Although they weren’t as popular anymore, they were still easier to hot-wire than modern cars. I quickly took out a pad of paper and scribbled down the license plate before making my way to the law school building.


	6. Jisung

“Alright, how about this one, Jisung? Word meaning a character of the second most importance. There’s… 13 letters and the seventh one is an A.”

I sighed, not putting any effort into trying to think of the word. “I don’t know, Chenle. What is it?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I was asking you.”

“Can you just focus on work instead of trying to solve that crossword puzzle?” I asked, annoyed. 

“Relax, Jisung, there aren't any customers.”

“Yet.”

Chenle gave me an amused smile. He also had accused me of being tense and a kill-joy. I was just being practical. Besides, it would only be a matter of time before more customers arrive.

“Ah, hello.”

I looked up in surprise at the sound of Chenle’s voice. Sure enough, he was greeting a customer. I gave him a pointed look and then turned to the customer. A young girl. Wait… This was the same girl from the other day. 

Wow, I was really getting better at recognizing customers. Kun and Chenle could do it easily. I guess they just had a pretty good memory. Me on the underhand, I wasn’t that great with remembering faces. But I remembered this girl. 

“Hey, weren’t you in here the other day?” Chenle asked the girl.

I rolled my eyes. Of course Chenle remembered her. The girl must have seen my reaction, because she gave me a surprised look. Oh no. I hadn’t meant to be rude. I wished I could explain that to her, but that might only make things worse. So I kept quiet. 

I waited at the counter while Chenle got the girl’s food. I started to stare off into space, but the sound of a little bell ringing caught my attention. Another customer. 

A man with blonde hair and a bright smile walked into the bakery holding… posters? Great. Another businessman who’s trying to get business from the few people who come here. I tried to guess from which local business this man could be from.

“Hello! I’m here to put up a poster for Lee’s Art Gallery’s Art Festival/Sale next month. I came in a few days ago to get the ‘ok’ to put up the poster,” the man explained. 

Hm… The man’s peppiness did make him quite a good advertiser… But a poster about an art festival? Well, festival/sale? Who even went to those kinds of things? Wait… We had an art gallery in town? What are those things even for? How do they even make money? 

“Do you work for the art gallery?” I asked the man.

He looked at me in surprise. “Ah, yes I do.”

“Do people here care about art?” I bluntly asked.

“Jisung!” Chenle exclaimed. “Sorry, I’ll hang that poster for you. The bulletin board is over here…” 

The man followed Chenle to where our small bulletin board was, to hang up the art festival poster.

I noticed that Chenle had left the girl’s food on the counter, so I tried to hand it to her, but her eyes were glued to the art gallery man. She had a surprised and suspicious look on her face. 

“Um… Excuse me…” I tried to get her attention.

“Oh, sorry,” she replied, her eyes still darting back to the art gallery man.

I handed her food to her and she quickly left the bakery after paying. Did she know the art gallery man?

Soon after the girl left, the art gallery man left. I looked over at the poster he had just hung up. The art festival thing didn’t appear to seem that exciting. Well, maybe if I was a rich art collector. Or if I knew half of the names of the artists on the poster.

“Jisung? Did he leave yet?” Chenle called.

“Who? The art gallery man?”

“He has a name. It’s Lee Jeno. And yeah. Him.” 

“How do you know his name? And yeah, he already left.”

“From the last time he stopped by to ask about hanging up the poster.”

Of course Chenle remembered his name. “Chenle, do you have a photographic memory? But, like, only for people’s faces and names?”

“Is that a thing?”

“I don’t know, is it?”

“I’m going to say no.”

Well… Maybe Chenle invented it then. 

“But, wait, you said he left right?” Chenle asked.

“Yeah, why? You miss him or something?” I dry responded.

“No. He forgot something.”

“What is it? His wallet?”

“No… Jisung, come here.”

What could be so important that Chenle had to stop me during our shift? Granted, there weren’t any customers… But they were bound to walk through that door eventually.

I reluctantly made my way to the bulletin board to find Chenle holding a blue piece of paper. Wait, no. The closer I got to it, the more I realized that it was thicker than paper. Oh, it was one of those paint sample cards you get at hardware stores. 

“Why does he have that? Is he trying to repaint his walls or something? Or is he using it as a bookmark?”

“...He works at an art gallery.”

“And? Wait a minute…” 

I took the paint card from Chenle and examined it… Regular paint cards usually have four or so colors on them, but this one seemed to be… Cut. And not neatly. More like, someone was rushing and tried to rip one of the colors off of the paint sample card. I looked at the color on the sample. Teal? Then I found three letters written in Sharpie on the card. NJM. 

“Chenle? Do you have any idea to what NJM could mean?”

“NJM?”

“Yeah, it’s written here on this paint card.”  
I pointed out the letters to Chenle. 

“Maybe they’re someone’s initials,” Chenle wondered

“The art gallery man’s initials?”

“Art gallery man?- Oh. No, he’s a Lee. There’s no L,” Chenle pointed out.

“Oh. Well, what should we do with that paint card? Do you think it’s important?”

“It probably has something to do with the gallery. We can stop by and give it back to him later.”

I inwardly groaned. I had planned on studying for my classes after our shift at the bakery, but Chenle somehow always managed to drag me along on his weird adventures. 

“Ok, hear me out, what if this is just a normal paint card thing? If it was that important, wouldn’t he come back for it? Can’t we just leave it here?”

Chenle threw me an amused look. “Fine.”

He resumed setting the paint card sample on the counter, and returned to his work. 

Wow, artists sure were weird. Who carried around one fourth of a paint sample card with their initials on it?


	7. Hyejoo

I admired the sparkling silver chain on my wrist. It was a simple piece of jewelry, but it was a sweet gesture on Jiwoo’s part, nonetheless. Jiwoo had bought the shiny bracelet for me during our adventure to the mall. She claimed it was a gift for me because of our friendship, but she really only gave it to me because she forced me to come with her to the mall and I almost got hit by that man… Jeno, and his car. 

The mall had turned out to be not that bad. It wasn’t that crowded, and although it was easy to get lost in, I made sure to watch every single step Jiwoo made so I wouldn’t get separated from her. Jiwoo kept calling me paranoid. I couldn’t help it. I had become completely intoxicated with fear. It had become my gravity; it brought me back to Earth and reality. 

But I survived. And it surprisingly felt good to breathe in the fresh autumn air and watch the leaves toss the colored leaves to and fro. How I had missed the feeling of the cool wind running through my hair. It was times like this that I wished I could overcome my fear. But I still chose to stay inside with the comfort of my own bed for the next few days.

“Hyejoo? Are you in here?”

I was brought back to reality at the sound of Haseul’s voice. Haseul? What was she doing in the yyxy apartment?

“Yeah,” I called back to her, walking towards the front door to meet her. 

I arrived at the front door to see Haseul holding two cups of coffee. The aromatic scent quickly filled the room, as did the steam of the hot beverage. 

“Here,” Haseul extended her arm towards me to hand me one of the cups. 

I took it gratefully. “Thanks, Haseul.” 

“Anytime,” she smiled and then proceeded to close the door and sit down at the small dinner table. I cautiously followed her. 

Why was she here? Hundreds of possibilities filled my brain, both sensible and outrageously ridiculous. I took a sip of my coffee and let its warmth fill me. 

“So,” began Haseul, “I’m heading to Lee’s Art Gallery now, and it would be preferred if there was someone with me. And you know I would usually take Sooyoung, but she’s busy at the moment. Would you like to come with me?”

My eyes grew as wide as saucers, and I almost dropped my coffee out of shock. Why would Haseul want me to come with her to the art gallery? I was much better suited behind a computer screen. 

“Why me?” I asked, worry starting to creep its way into my voice.

Haseul smiled warmly at me. “Because I think it would be good for you to get out more.” 

My stomach churned at the thought. Wasn’t going to the mall with Jiwoo already enough? 

“Jiwoo told me about how you two went out to the mall. I’m really proud of you, Hyejoo,” Haseul said, pride shining in her chocolate eyes. “Now, what do you say? You up for checking out the Art Gallery?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I tried to calm my brain down. My brain was spinning with thoughts and fears. Unnecessary thoughts and fears. I was already making progress, I just needed to build on it. ...Right? Is that what I really wanted? I guess I had been stuck inside my own bubble for too long that I didn’t know what I wanted. All I knew was what I was comfortable with. 

I looked Haseul in the eyes and tried to think bravely about the situation. “Sure,” I finally responded hesitantly.

I watched as Haseul instantly lit up at my answer. “Well, then let’s do this,” Haseul smiled. 

I followed Haseul out the door and out of the apartment complex. It felt… strange. It was the second time I was going out to town in a week. That had to be some sort of personal record. I just hoped I wouldn’t regret it.

My feet fell in line right behind Haseul’s, my eyes never leaving her. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we arrived at the art gallery. I studied the small building. It was a nice, homey place with paintings filling up almost all the space on the walls. 

“Hi! We’re here about volunteering for the art festival,” Haseul greeted the man who was standing behind the front desk of the store. 

The man had bright eyes and a cheery smile that faded a bit once he started to think about Haseul’s statement.

“One second, another one of our employees is in charge of the volunteers for the art festival. If you wait here I’ll go get him.” 

I watched as he walked towards the back of the store.

“Haseul, what are we doing here?” I whispered.

“Well, I already talked with another employee before about volunteering for the art festival. So, now you and I are going to sort out the details.” 

Ah, right. The first part of the scam. Haseul always called this stage the preparation stage. It’s when the members of Loona ⅓ make the arrangements for the scam. I never really helped out with the preparation stage. I was more fit for the home stretch, which in this case, is the art festival. 

I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t notice that two employees had already made their way over to me and Haseul. One was the man who greeted us and the other was standing next to him. My eyes grew as wide as saucers as I studied the second employee. He looked so familiar… I strained my eyes to get a better look at him, as I knew that I knew him from somewhere…. I almost gasped aloud once my mind finally put the pieces together. I could have recognized his shiny, blonde hair and sparkling chocolate eyes anywhere. It was Jeno. Why did it seem that I was just running into him wherever I went? 

“Jeno, these women are volunteers for the art festival,” the other employee said to Jeno before walking away to help other customers. 

Jeno smiled warmly at Haseul and then turned to me. His eyes widened for a split second, and then he began to chuckle. “It’s you again.”

Haseul turned to me in surprise. “You know this guy?”

“Yeah…” I sheepishly admitted. “He lives in the same apartment complex as us.”

“He does?”

“Yeah,” Jeno said with an amused smile. “Now, you two are volunteering for the art festival?”

“Yes. Along with a few other of our friends that couldn’t make it today,” Haseul answered.

What? Me? Volunteering at the art festival? I shot Haseul a confused look. I never did this kind of stuff as a part of Loona. I was always a hacker, behind a computer, not in an art gallery. Wait. Was some sort of scheme by Haseul to try to get me to get out more? I inwardly groaned. All of this would have never happened if I hadn’t gone to the mall with Jiwoo.

“It’s nice to see more people taking an interest in this art festival. Ah, I never had a chance to properly introduce myself. I’m Lee Jeno. And what are your names?”

“I’m Lee Yoora, and this is Olivia Hye.” Haseul gestured to me.

My eyes almost widened in alarm. Haseul used my online alias as my name to a man who had already heard my real name before? Oh no, this wasn’t going to go well. I nervously looked at Jeno to see his reaction to this.   
He gazed at me, his eyes narrowed. Oh no. He was suspicious of me already. 

“Olivia… Hye…” he began, “that’s a pretty name.” He smiled at me, and just like that all signs that he was suspicious of me disappeared. 

What? 

Ah. Maybe he hadn’t heard my real name after all. 

“Now, Miss Lee-”

“Ah, please call me Yoora,” Haseul said with a charming smile.

She was too good at this kind of stuff. And I was good at hacking. So why in the world did she think it was a good idea to bring me here? I wasn’t a good liar or a charming speaker like Haseul. 

“Alright, Yoora. We have several ways you can help for the festival, so it really depends if you're interested in preparations for the festival or helping to run the festival itself,” Jeno explained. 

Haseul mulled over his words and then turned to me. “Olivia, I’ve been thinking. I think you should help out at the art festival.”

I stared blankly at her. “Isn’t that what I’m already doing?”

Haseul laughed softly. “No, silly. That’s not what I meant. I meant, at the actual festival, do you want to come here and help out?”

I stared speechlessly at Haseul. Had she gone crazy?   
“I know you don’t like to get out much, Olivia, but I think it could help you get over your fear,” Haseul softly said to me. 

Was she really going to jeopardize this scam over trying to help me? That’s… actually really sweet. I let a small smile creep onto my face. I couldn’t let Haseul down. 

“Sure,” I said, my voice shaking as if it didn’t agree with my decision. 

Haseul smiled at me in surprise. “Great. Well, Olivia here will help out at the festival, and I’ll help out with the preparations,” Haseul explained to Jeno, who wrote it down on a piece of paper.

“Great. Well, actually there’s something that needs to be done today. I need someone to pick up paintings from a restaurant. The owners of the restaurant are donating the paintings for the festival.”

Haseul immediately went on her phone as Jeno had begun to talk. A few seconds later I received a text in the Loona group chat. Haseul had asked the rest of the girls if they would be able to pick up the paintings with the truck we use to move. I frowned at the text. Why couldn’t Haseul do it? A few seconds later there was a reply from Jinsoul who said that she would do it. I rolled my eyes, amused. She probably was going to use it as an excuse to eat at the restaurant. 

“Yeah, one of my friends who’s volunteering can pick up the paintings,” Haseul finally answered. 

“Great,” Jeno said with a smile, stealing a glance at me. I gave him a confused look in response. “What’s the name? I’m going to contact the owners of the restaurant and tell them to look out for whoever's coming.” 

“Her name is Jenny Jung. What’s the restaurant that she has to go to called?” Haseul asked. 

“Ah, it’s called Jung’s Palace. What time can she be over?” 

“What time is best for the owners?”

“Around 9 or so. That’s usually when they prepare to close.”

“Alright.” 

“Jeno?” called out a man's voice.

I turned to find the other art gallery employee standing behind Jeno.

“Yeah, Jaemin?” 

“Have you seen a paint sample anywhere?” 

Jeno chuckled. “Of course. They’re all over the place in the back of the store. We are in an art gallery.”

The other worker barked a forced laugh. “Yes, right. Well, have you seen mine? I mean, a smaller one. The color is teal. Oh, and it has my initials on it.” 

Jeno threw the worker- Jaemin- a confused look. “What? No, I can’t say that I have.”

A troubled look crossed Jaemin’s face. “Oh. Well, it’s missing, so if you see it, tell me.” 

“Got it,” Jeno replied before turning back to me and Haseul. “Sorry about that.” 

I watched as Jaemin turned around and began looking around the store, probably for that paint sample. What was so important about a paint sample? 

I began to zone out as Haseul and Jeno continued to talk about the art festival. Geez, the preparation stage seemed to be exhausting. I didn’t know how Haseul did it. I didn’t know how she was able to keep track of it all.


	8. Jinsoul

My mouth watered as I stared at the pictures on my phone. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the pictures of food in front of me. Ah, those perfectly pink jumbo shrimp were calling my name. 

“Jinsoul what are you doing?” Yerim asked, amused.

“Yerim! You have to look at this,” I rushed over to her and shoved my phone in front of her face.

“What is this? A restaurant?”

“It’s the one I’m going to tonight,” I explained.

“Ah. Aren't you just going to collect paintings for the festival?” 

“Yeah.”

“They’re originals, right?”

“Yeah.”

Yerim smiled. “That’s good.”

It was. Me collecting the paintings was perfect for our plan. Our contact, who none of us had ever met, was going to paint a cheap replica of the original paintings, and we were going to sell them as originals at the art festival. 

“So, are you supposed to take the paintings to the art gallery? Or to our contact?” Yeojin asked. 

Yerim and I looked at her in surprise. I guess we had both forgotten that she was in the room. It felt weird to share an apartment with a new member. Especially since Yeojin was pretty quiet. She always stayed by herself and never really talked to anyone else, but Haseul was determined to help her fit in.

“Um, I think I’m just bringing the paintings back here. And then someone will meet our contact, whoever it is,” I explained.

“You don’t know who the contact is?” Yeojin asked, surprised.

“No. None of us do,” Yerim said.

“Not even Haseul?”

“I’m not sure,” Yerim admitted. 

I didn’t think that even Haseul knew who the contact was. Usually things like that are kept secret so that no one gets caught. 

“What happens to the original paintings after you pick them up?” asked Yeojin.

Boy, she sure was chatty today. 

“We’ll keep them and then sell them after the art festival is over,” I answered. “Now, I’d love to stay and answer your questionnaire, but I have a solo dinner date to get ready for.” I excitedly threw open my closet to find the perfect outfit. Aye, the closet was such a mess. I guess I hadn’t had the time or energy to properly hang my clothes so I had lazily thrown them into the closet. 

“Yerim! How do I look?” I asked as I waltzed towards her after changing into the perfect outfit. 

Yerim gave me a surprised look. “Like you’re going on a date.”

I laughed. “Yeah, with jumbo shrimp.” 

“You look good in blue,” Yeojin simply replied.

I couldn’t help the surprised look that crossed my face. Yeojin had never really tried to talk to me, let alone compliment me. Maybe she was finally learning to open up to us. 

I turned on my phone to check out the time and myself. 8:30. It was about time for me to leave. I checked myself out in the camera one last time before preparing to leave. Wow. I really did look like I was going out on a date. I almost laughed at the idea. I hadn’t been out on a date in forever. I was much better off by myself. My simple, deep blue dress was tightly sticking onto me without making me like I was suffocating. My long, blonde hair was tied in a loose braid over my shoulder. Hey, I needed to make a good first impression if these restaurant owners were just going to donate pricy original pieces of art.

I finally made my leave and began driving to the restaurant, my stomach growling. I hadn’t eaten anything in awhile, so this was a perfect opportunity for both the scam and my stomach. 

After listening to the annoying robotic voice on my phone’s GPS for about 10 minutes, I arrived at Jung’s Palace. When I was searching pictures of the restaurant online, I also checked out reviews of the place, and found that it was very highly recommended by many people in Polarisville. Apparently almost everyone in Polarisville knew about it and had been there. 

As I pulled up to the restaurant, a familiar car caught my eye. It looked like the same car that the rude college student who gave me directions was in. I quickly pulled out my phone, where I had written the license plate, to compare the two. They were the same. It was the same car. Hm… Maybe I could kill two birds with one stone here. 

The outside of the restaurant was bright, big, and flashy. It sort of stood out like a sore thumb, but maybe people in Polarisville were into stuff like that. The inside was a completely different feel however. It kept up its bright colors and tacky decorations, but the overall vibe was classy and there were quite a few families there too. I made my way to the front counter where one of the employees was standing. 

“Hi,” I introduced myself with a bright smile. “I’m looking for the owners of this restaurant, Mr. and Mrs. Jung. I’m supposed to be picking up paintings for Lee’s Art Gallery.” 

“Ah, right. Jaehyun! Come here and take this young girl to your parents. She’s picking up some paintings,” the employee called out. 

A young man, presumably named Jaehyun and the son of the owners of the restaurant, approached me. He wore a wary scowl and looked at me with narrowed eyes. Wait a minute… That was the college kid who rudely gave my directions! He was the owner’s son? He seemed to recognize me, for a confused look crossed his face as he stared me down. 

“Follow me,” he said, with a hint of annoyance in his voice. 

I silently followed, looking around at the restaurant. The smell of cooking seafood washed over me. Mmm. I needed to hurry up and collect the paintings so I could eat. 

“Mom! Dad! Some girl’s here to collect paintings or something,” Jaehyun called out to his parents, exasperated. 

What a rude kid. Aye, even a thief like me was nicer than this guy. 

“Right. You’re Jenny Jung, right?” Jaehyun’s mother asked me warmly.

“Yes, I am,” I responded with a smile.

At home, I was Jung Jinsoul, but when I was working I was Jenny Jung, a bright, charming young girl. 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jaehyun, continuing to stare at me. Was he going to leave already or what? 

“And you’re here for the paintings for the art festival, correct?” Mrs. Jung asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” I answered. 

“Honey, would you go grab those boxes in the back that are marked ‘Lee’s Art Gallery’?” Mrs. Jung asked her husband.

“Yes, of course.”

“Jaehyun, go help your dad,’” Mrs. Jung commanded her son.

Jaehyun gave her a weary look before trudging to the back of the restaurant to accompany his dad.

“I can grab some too,” I offered.

“Oh no, it’s fine,” Mrs. Jung said with a warm smile. 

Way to go, Jinsoul. I inwardly smiled with pride at myself. It’s always important to show your charms and kindness to the people you’re trying to con. They’ll never suspect you if you don’t give them a reason to. 

Mr. Jung and Jaehyun came back a minute later holding large cardboard boxes. 

“Where should we put these?” Mr. Jung asked me.

“Oh, you can just set them down, I’ll bring them to my car,” I said.

“Nonsense, they can bring them to your car for you,” Mrs. Jung said with a smile. 

“Oh, no, I’m really okay,” I reassured firmly with a smile as I took the box Mr. Jung was holding from him and began to walk towards the door.

“Jaehyun, follow Miss Jung and put the other box in her car,” Mrs. Jung told her son.

“She just said she can do it herself,” grumbled Jaehyun.

“Jaehyun, put the box in the young lady’s car,” Mrs. Jung loudly ordered, glaring at Jaehyun.

Jaehyun silently followed me. 

“Thanks,” I told him, plastering a fake smile onto my face.

He gave me a weird look in response. “Do I know you?”

“Excuse me?” I asked, taken aback.

“Oh, um, nothing. You just look familiar,” he said, with his face turned away from me.

What a strange guy. 

“Here’s my car,” I announced once we arrived at the old, beat up truck Loona used to move. 

Jaehyun stared at me in shock. “This is your car?”

He was really going to judge me based on my car? What a shallow, rude guy.

“So what if it is?” I defensively asked. 

“It doesn’t suit you,” he bluntly remarked.

I scoffed as I opened the trunk and put the box of paintings in. “You don’t know that,” I retorted as I grabbed the box from him and shoved it in the trunk of the truck. 

I shot him one last glare before turning around and walking back towards the restaurant. “By the way, we have met before. The other day at Polarisville University. I asked you for directions,” I called back to Jaehyun, my back still turned to him. 

Right as I entered the restaurant, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun around to find Jaehyun. 

“What are you doing?” I asked, annoyed. Why wouldn’t this guy leave me alone?

“Why are you going back to the restaurant?” he questioned, glaring at me. “Didn’t you already get what you were coming for.”

“No,” I glared back, “that wasn’t the only thing I came for. Why are you trying to stop a customer in your restaurant?” 

He gazed at me in surprise. “Customer? It’s too late. We’re closing. And it’s not my restaurant anyway, it’s my parent’s, so I couldn’t care less.” 

“Miss Jung? Ah, is Jaehyun bothering you?” Mrs. Jung came over to me, concerned. I guess she was used to this behavior from her son.

“Ah, please, it’s Jenny. And, no, he wasn’t bothering me,” I lied.

Mrs. Jung frowned as if she didn't believe me. She then turned to her son and groaned. “Jaehyun, what did you do?”

“I told her we’re closing,” he coldly responded. 

You also told me this wasn’t your restaurant, I wanted to shoot back. 

“Ah, nonsense. If Miss Ju- Jenny, wants to stay to eat, then let her. Even if that means we have to keep the restaurant open a few more minutes,” Mrs. Jung concluded.

I smiled smugly at Jaehyun. “Thanks, Mrs. Jung. But I don’t want to be a bother,” I smiled with a fake sincerity.

“Oh, you won’t be. But, did you come alone?” Mrs. Jung asked with a frown.

My smile wavered. “Yes…” Did she have a problem with that?

“Ah, no one should eat alone. Jaehyun, you should eat with her. You haven’t had dinner yet, have you?” 

I had to stop my eyes from widening in shock. It looked like Jaehyun didn’t try as hard as I did, for his eyes grew as big as saucers. 

“Um, no, I haven’t, but-” Jaehyun began to argue.

“Jaehyun, eat with Miss Jenny. It’s only polite. Besides, she’s helping us out by taking those paintings to the art gallery and selling them,” Mrs. Jung said with a smile, her eyes sparkling.

I looked expectantly at Jaehyun. I wanted to tell him that I didn’t want to eat with him either, but I didn’t want to make a scene in front of his mother. 

Jaehyun sighed. “Fine,” he reluctantly agreed. 

“Wonderful. A waiter will be with you both in a second. You two can sit wherever you’d like, the restaurant is almost empty anyway,” Mrs. Jung explained before walking away.

I couldn’t help but notice that Jaehyun kept staring at me. “What are you looking at?” I sneered. 

“What kind of person dresses up to eat by themselves?” he bluntly asked.

I rolled my eyes. “A person with great confidence. Now, um, where do you want to sit?”

“I’d prefer if it was somewhere where you weren’t, but my mother wishes for me to sit with you, so follow me,” Jaehyun coldly instructed.

Without waiting for my response, Jaehyun took off towards the back of the restaurant, leaving me to follow him to a back booth. I took the seat across from him and looked around the restaurant in amazement. It seemed like a fun, bright place. If only the son of the owners of the restaurant was half welcoming as the restaurant. I decided to be the bigger man and at least try to be friendly with Jaehyun. 

“Well, um, hi. I’m Jenny,” I said with a charming smile as I outstretched my arm towards Jaehyun who reluctantly shook it, but didn’t respond back. I frowned, already getting annoyed. “You’re not going to introduce yourself to me?”

Jaehyun sighed, exasperated. “Fine. I’m Jaehyun,” he gruffly replied. 

This was going to be awkward. 

“Um, well, Jaehyun, are you a student?” I awkwardly asked.

“Yes. At medical school,”he responded, obviously bored already.

I couldn’t take this for much longer. 

“Well, aren't you going to ask me a question back?” I asked, annoyed. 

He looked at me in surprise before smirking. “Fine. How old are you?” 

This time I couldn’t control myself, and my eyes grew wide in shock. “Excuse me?”

Jaehyun continued to smirk. “You told me to ask you a question.”

Fine, Jaehyun. Two could play that game. “Fine. I’ll just ask you another question then. Are you single?” I innocently asked.

Jaehyun gawked at me in complete shock. “What?”  
I began to smirk.

Jaehyun glared at me and smiled fakely. “But, since you seem interested, I’ll answer you. Yes, I am single.”

I glared at him, my glare dripping with poison. “I can see why,” I shot back with a fake smile.

Jaehyun glared angrily at me. “Why you-”

He was quickly cut off by a young waiter who seemed to be very concerned about the two of us. 

“Jaehyun, that’s no way to treat your girlfriend,” the young waiter said to Jaehyun with a frown. 

Jaehyun and I both turned to the waiter in shock.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Jaehyun quickly clarified to the waiter. 

The waiter shot Jaehyun a look that clearly meant that he didn’t believe Jaehyun, but dropped the subject and began to take our orders. 

The whole meal was quiet and awkward, but Jaehyun didn’t glare or yell at me as much as I thought he would. Talking would have just distracted me from the food, though, so I’m glad we stayed quiet, because the food… Was totally incredible. I didn’t want to stop eating after I was finished. 

“Did you enjoy your meal, Miss Jenny?” Mrs. Jung asked.

“Yes, it was delicious. Thanks for keeping the restaurant open for me,” I responded with a smile.

Mrs. Jung said something in response to me, but something had caught my eye. As Jaehyun was preparing to go, he brought out his keys. His keys… If only I could think of a way to take them when he left… No. I couldn’t do it today… Well, I didn’t have to take his car. I had many other options, but his would be the easiest. His family seemed to instantly trust me anyway. 

“You should come back again,” Mrs. Jung invited, smiling.

I returned the warm smile, but then turned to Jaehyun. “Jaehyun, are you here every night?”

Both Jaehyun and his mom stared at me in shock but Mrs. Jung started to smile. She probably assumed that her motherly meddling was working.

“Only on Mondays,” Jaehyun responded, confused. 

I made a mental note of that in my head. If I didn’t get a car by next Monday then I would make sure to stop by Jung’s Palace for Jaehyun’s car. 

I thanked Mrs. Jung again and made my exit with a smile that I couldn't shake off of my face for some reason.


	9. Jisung

“Hey, Jisung,” Chenle called out as he entered the bakery. 

“Where have you been?” I asked, annoyed. 

Chenle had come in almost 30 minutes late. Kun was busy so that left me as the only one to open the bakery. 

“There was a car accident. The roads are crazy backed up,” Chenle responded.

“Oh.”

Chenle joined me behind the counter and looked around the empty building. "Has it been this empty since you opened the shop?" he asked me.

"Yeah, but I'm guessing the car accident you were talking about had something to do with it."

"That or it's going to be a really slow day."

I opened my mouth to agree with Chenle, but a piece of blue paper caught my eye. I got a closer look and realized it was the teal paint card the art gallery man had left behind. "Hey, Chenle, what are we supposed to do about this?" I asked, holding up the paint card.

Chenle shrugged. "Just see if the man from the art gallery comes back, and if he doesn't, just toss it. It's just a paint sample."

"Alright," I responded, dropping it back onto the counter.

Maybe I could get in some studying if it was going to be a slow day.

I began to stare out of the window, bored, and I saw someone approaching the bakery. Finally, a customer. I got a closer look at the customer and saw that it was that girl that kept coming by the bakery. 

"Hey, Chenle, it's that girl again," I said, gesturing to the customer who had almost reached the front door.

"Oh, you mean Yeojin?” 

I rolled my eyes. " Of course you know her name."

"Well, yeah, she's been coming for months."

I frowned at the news. Months? Could I really be that oblivious to pick up her name when she's been coming for months? And the worse thing was I couldn't remember seeing her in the bakery before I first noticed her about a week or so ago. 

While I had been distracted by my thoughts, Yeojin had already come into the bakery and Chenle was already taking her order. She quickly got her food and paid. She then strolled over to a table, sat down, and stared out the window with an inpatient look on her face. Even though I wasn't half as observant and Chenle, I concluded that she was waiting for someone. I heard her sigh a few times and she was constantly checking her phone. It was pretty distracting. Especially since she was the only one in the building apart from me and Chenle. 

The atmosphere was awkward as Chenle and I exchanged confused looks towards the strange girl, but couldn't say anything because, well, she would have heard it. We both kind of stood there awkwardly waiting for another customer, or whoever Yeojin was waiting for, to come. 

Finally, a man walked in the bakery and I almost breathed a sigh of relief. Yeojin, however, actually did. It seemed that this man was the person she had been waiting for.

"There you are," Yeojin huffed, annoyed. "I've been waiting for you."

The man smiles, amused, "I know, sorry. There was a car accident that stopped me from coming earlier. But hey, I'm here now."

Yeojin frowned, mulling over his words. "That's true. Hurry up and order so we can talk."

The man began to tell me his order, but something on the counter had caught his eye. I followed his eyesight to try to see what he was looking at. There was nothing really on the counter. Oh, besides for that paint sample card.

"Where did you get that?" the man asked in shock, pointing to the paint card. 

Why was he asking me where I got the paint card sample? There's no way he was that clueless. You know, unless he was. I was often told that I was pretty clueless myself, but at least I knew where to get a paint sample.

"A customer left it behind," Chenle answered as I was deep in my thoughts. 

The customer frowned and shot Yeojin a confused look. "A customer? What customer?"

"Why does it matter?" I asked plainly, receiving a glare from Chenle. 

"A guy from Lee's Art Gallery delivered posters here yesterday, and he left it behind," Chenle explained. 

The customer turned to Chenle in shock. "Lee's Art Gallery? What was his name?"

Why did this guy care so much?

"Lee Jeno. Why?" Chenle responded, confused. 

"Let me see this," the man picked up the paint sample suspiciously and examined it. His eyes widened as they came across the three letters that were written on it: NJM. 

"Hey, what are you doing?" Chenle asked, annoyed.

The customer threw us a charming smile. "Sorry, but I think it's mine."

I crossed my arms. "It's a paint sample. How could you possibly know that it's yours?"

"Because it has my initials, NJM, for Na Jaemin," the man- Jaemin- answered snarkily. 

Yeojin gasped as concern filled her dark eyes. "What? Jaemin, what is your TEAL card doing here?"

What? 

Jaemin glared at Yeojin, obviously annoyed. "I have no idea but it looks like it was stolen by a certain one of my coworkers."

Yeojin's eyes grew wide. "You think he knows?" she quietly asked. 

Jaemin hesitated before shrugging. "I don't know. I could just be a coincidence."

"This isn't good, Jaemin-"

"I know, Yeojin," Jaemin growled. "Let's just get out of here so we can talk." 

He quickly grabbed his food and his paint sample card and stalked out of the bakery, with Yeojin following. 

"What was that about?" Chenle asked me, confused. Clearly I wasn't the only one who didn't have a clue as to what Yeojin and Jaemin were talking about. 

I shrugged. “Was he allowed to take the paint sample card like that?”

“I don’t know. He said it was his… But I don’t know…”

“Oh well. It’s not our concern anymore.” 

I didn’t like getting into other people's business. They should figure it out themselves. If it doesn’t concern me, then there’s no reason for me to get involved. At least, that was my philosophy. 

The door flung open, and Chenle and I immediately turned towards the door to greet the customer.

“Hello- Oh, it’s you,” Chenle deadpanned, staring at the customer. 

“Is Kun here?” 

“Not yet,” Chenle responded. 

“Ah, that slacker. I swear he’s never here.”

Chenle sighed, exasperated. “What do you want, Jaehyun?”

Jaehyun stared at him, amused. “Nothing, anymore.”

“Hey, you should at least buy something to support your friend,” I interjected dryly. 

“Why? Are you guys getting a commission or something?” 

Chenle scoffed and made his way out from behind the counter to talk to Jaehyun. “What is it you want, Jaehyun?”

Jaehyun went to the medical school at Polarisville University, which is where Kun was studying law. Their parents both owned food related shops, so they were close friends, and so were Jaehyun and Kun. But Chenle and Jaehyun never seemed to see eye to eye. He frequently complained about Jaehyun to me, so I had received countless lectures about how ‘Jaehyun doesn’t have a brain,’ or about ‘Jaehyun’s arrogant and rude personality.’ 

“I was seeing if Kun was here,” Jaehyun boredly responded.

“Then why didn’t you just text him to see if he was here first?” Chenle snarkily asked, earning a glare from Jaehyun. 

“I did. He never responded,” Jaehyun shot back. 

“Well, since you know he’s not here you can leave now,” Chenle rudely said.

“Does Kun know that his employee is so rude?” Jaehyun asked, annoyed. 

“Does Kun know that his friend is so rude?” Chenle snarkily asked back.

Jaehyun rolled his eyes and walked over to me. I looked at him in surprise. “Jisung, if someone asks you when you’re going to be at a certain place, does that mean they want to see you again?”

I looked at him in surprise. “Did you go out on a date?”

Although Jaehyun and Chenle never seemed to get along, Jaehyun was always pretty friendly towards me. Probably because I seemed like a saint compared to Chenle.

“No. But last night, a girl came over to the restaurant to pick up paintings from my parents, and I ended up eating with her-”

“Yeah, that sounds like a date,” Chenle snarkily interrupted. 

“Would you still call it a date if I was forced into it against my own will?” Jaehyun shot back, glaring at Chenle. 

“Was the girl forced into it, too?” Chenle asked.

Jaehyun gave him a confused look but nodded. 

Chenle stared at Jaehyun for a second before bursting into laughter. “Wow, the only way you can get a girl to go out with you is by force?”

Jaehyun glared at him and then turned back to me. “Anyway, before the girl left she asked when I would be back at the restaurant.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah. Is it that surprising?” Jaehyun asked, annoyed. 

“No,” I tried to clarify. 

“So, what do you think she wants? I mean, we didn’t exactly get along.”

I frowned. Why would this girl want to see Jaehyun again if they hadn’t gotten along? I could testify that his bitter personality didn’t get better the more you hung out with him. 

“Maybe you have something she wants. Like, maybe she knows you're rich or something,” Chenle piped in.

“Would you just shut up?” Jaehyun growled, obviously fed up with Chenle. 

“I was being serious,” Chenle dryly fired back. 

“How would she know that? My parents own a small restaurant and I’m a college student.” 

Chenle rolled his eyes. “Hey, it was just an idea.”

“Are you going to meet with her again?” I asked.

“If she shows up at the restaurant next week, then sure,” Jaehyun concluded. “Just to see what she wants,” he added.

“What makes you think she wants something?” I asked with a frown.

Jaehyun scoffed. “Everyone wants something.” 

“What? Are you hopeful that the thing this girl wants is you?” Chenle asked with a smirk crossing his face.

“I thought I told you to shut up,” Jaehyun sneered. 

Chenle opened his mouth to fire something back at Jaehyun, but Jaehyun raised his hand up to signal Chenle to stop. 

Jaehyun groaned. “I’ve had enough of this. Chenle, you make my stress levels skyrocket.” 

Chenle smirked. “The feeling is mutual.”

Jaehyun ignored him and turned towards the front door. “I’ll see you later, Jisung,” he added without looking back as he left the small bakery. 

Chenle’s vicious glare wouldn’t leave his face even after Jaehyun was out of sight. I never understood why Chenle felt the need to combat everything Jaehyun said. Putting up a fight with Jaehyun was never worth it. He would just end the argument, have the last word, and then leave. That seemed to be his schedule or something. 

Finally, Chenle turned his eyes from the window and casually stepped behind the counter as if nothing had happened. His face appeared to be unfazed. But I knew better. Chenle always pretended to be calm, when inside he was probably cussing out Jaehyun. 

A customer suddenly walked in, and things became normal again in the bakery. Only until the customer left, that is, and Chenle turned me with anger flaming in his eyes.

“That kid is so rude,” he fumed. 

“Yeah, well that ‘kid’ is older than you,” I responded, knowing exactly who that ‘kid’ was. 

“Stop letting Jaehyun get to you,” I added, earning a glare from Chenle.

“I’m not. It’s just… someone needs to put him in place,” Chenle angrily stated. 

I rolled my eyes at my petty friend and tried to focus on work. I could tell Chenle was doing the same, for he started rearranging objects on the counter that were fine where they were in the first place. Soon enough, it seemed like we had both forgotten about the sparring match between Jaehyun and Chenle.


	10. Hyejoo

I inhaled a deep, relaxing breath as I cautiously opened the front door to my apartment. The door creaked as I slowly opened it, and I started to feel my legs wobble already. I clutched the doorknob in fear as I tried to stand up straight. My eyes shut and all I saw was a vast darkness as I tried to calm myself. Images of warm, relaxing things such as the falling autumn leaves and the roaring of crystal waves collapsing onto the golden sand swarmed into my mind. I finally was able to cross into the hallway outside of the apartment.

Every week I would take a personal test of mine where I would see how many steps I could take out of my apartment until I started to feel dizzy. It may seem dangerous, but I made sure never to push myself. It was just a simple way to test how long I could last somewhere by myself. Usually, I made it to the apartment room across from mine before my legs became jello or my head started spinning. 

It had always taken a few minutes to coax myself into even opening the front door. Especially since I always made sure to send the other yyxy members to their rooms so I could effectively be alone. 

I proceeded to close the door behind me, and I suddenly felt a cold chill as my stomach churned. I could no longer see the comfort of my own home- my own sanctuary, and I had to continue forward. I looked down at my feet as if to command them to start moving. I finally managed to get one to lift off of the ground and take a tiny step forward. The foot behind it copied it, and before I knew it, I was almost to the apartment room across from mine. I let a small smile cross my face and took another deep breath to prepare for the homestretch. 

All of a sudden I heard a voice behind me call out, “Olivia?” I yelled out in surprise at the sudden disruption of my test. 

“Are you alright?” the voice asked, as the owner of the voice walked around to the front of me. 

I quickly realized that the voice belonged to Jeno. 

“Jeno?” 

Jeno looked at me with a friendly smile. “Are you heading out somewhere?”

“Um… I’m just going for a walk…” I tried to awkwardly explain. 

“Oh, well, I’ll let you get back to that, Olivia- Wait,” he paused, with a confused look in his eye. “When you were at the art gallery you said your name was Olivia, but I heard your friends call you Hyejoo, too,” he began, confused.

Oh no. I could tell he was starting to get suspicious so I plastered a sheepish smile on my face. “Um, well, actually, Hyejoo’s my real name. Olivia’s my English name,” I lied. 

I looked hopefully at Jeno seeing what his reaction would be.

“Ah. I thought so,” he responded. “What do you normally go by?”

My mind tried to process his words. I nervously started picking at my hair as I searched my brain for an answer. I wasn’t the greatest at lying under stress as the other Loona members were. Was it better to let him call me by my real name and let him continue to think that my alias was my English name? Or was it better for him to just call me by my alias?

“Um, you can call me whatever you want,” I nervously responded, unable to make up my mind. 

“Alright then, Olivia,” he said with a smile. 

Olivia. So he had decided to go with my alias.

“Olivia Hye. It’s such a pretty name. It suits you, too,” Jeno said quietly, leaning closer to me, with a charming smirk on his face. 

Taken back by the sudden behavioral change, I looked at Jeno in surprise. He turned to walk away like everything was normal and smiled warmly at me. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later,” he said. 

What just happened? What had he meant by complimenting my name? 

In a daze, I just simply nodded at Jeno and watched him walk away. I thought about his words in my head, and the more I thought about them, the more they left a bad taste in my mouth. Olivia Hye. So he had remembered my full alias as well. It just felt… off. There was something that I couldn’t pinpoint, but it set off all the warning alarms in my head. 

I tried to shake it from my head and continue with my test, but I felt frozen in place. I tried to console myself and begin to pick up my feet again. I finally was able to take a few more steps until something caught my eye. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a tall, blonde figure leaving an apartment room.

It was Jeno again. I could tell that he noticed my puzzled expression, for he approached me with an amused smile. 

“Hi there again, Olivia Hye,” he cheerfully greeted me.

“What are you doing out here again?” I asked, confused. I had just seen him enter his house and then the next minute he left again. I suddenly noticed that he was carrying a bag with him. Did he have that when he went into his house? 

“Oh, I just had to grab something,” he explained, holding up the bag. 

Suspicions suddenly clouded my mind. “What’s in the bag?” I suddenly asked, surprising myself. 

Jeno looked at me in surprise. “Oh, just art supplies.”

Oh. He must have been going to work. 

“Oh, so you’re heading to work?” I casually asked.

Jeno stared at me for a second and hesitated. “Yeah. Well, I’m actually going to meet with a client now,” he explained before looking at his watch. “I don’t want to keep her waiting. I’ll see you later, Olivia Hye.”

He threw one last smile my way before leaving to go to his meeting. Still, in the back of my mind there was something about him that was bugging me. And why did he continue to call me by my full alias name, Olivia Hye?   
I again tried to shake those thoughts from my head and decided to hurry up and conclude my test. I finally made it to the apartment across from mine, and I turned around to face my apartment so I could finish my test and make my way back to my apartment. 

As I was taking my baby steps towards my apartment, the front door to the apartment next to mine swung open. It was the Odd Eye Circle apartment. I curiously turned my head towards that direction to see who it was.   
It was the new member, Yeojin. 

Since she hadn’t been with us for long, I hadn’t had a chance to get to know her. I would be surprised if she even knew my name.

“Oh, hi,” Yeojin greeted me in surprise. 

I awkwardly smiled at her. “Where are you going?” 

“Oh, I’m going to meet our contact about… you know, the paintings Jinsoul picked up,” Yeojin quietly explained, walking up to me. 

I studied the small girl in surprise. Haseul must have seen something in her to let a new member go by herself to meet our contact in a big job just this. 

All of a sudden, the warning alarms in my mind unexpectedly went off. 

“Wait, when’s the meeting?” I asked Yeojin with a frown.

It was Yeojin’s turn to be surprised. “Um, now, actually. I’m meeting the client outside the apartment complex near the truck so they can see the paintings.”

“Let me go with you,” I impulsively requested, shocking myself.

What was I doing? 

“What?”

“Um, if you’re just going outside the apartment building, then let me come. Haseul’s been wanting me to get outside more often,” I awkwardly explained.

Did Yeojin even know about my fear? I had just assumed that one of the other members had told her. 

“Ah, I understand,” Yeojin sympathetically said, smiling at me. 

So someone had told her. Yeojin proceeded to walk down the stairs near our apartments, and I slowly followed her.

Even though I had someone walking with me, my pace was still a lot slower that the youngest Loona member.   
As we left the apartment building, Yeojin turned around to find me several feet behind her. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you were so far behind,” Yeojin sheepishly said, waiting for me to catch up with her.

“That’s alright,” I awkwardly answered.

I took a deep breath of the fresh autumn air and smiled with pride. I had been outside so many times in the past week and it had started to build my confidence.

Maybe it was time for another test….

“Hey, you go on ahead and go to your meeting. I’ll wait here,” I told Yeojin.

Yeojin looked at me in shock. “Are- Are you sure? I heard about… well… that you can’t be left alone.”

“I’ll still be able to see you. I just want to see how long I can last,” I explained. 

My stomach started to churn as I thought about what I was planning to do. But I would still be able to see Yeojin. Hopefully that would be enough.

“Um, alright,” Yeojin reluctantly agreed. 

She looked at me with concern before walking away towards our truck that was parked in a smaller parking lot that was to the side of the main parking lot. I closed my eyes and tried to take deep, calming breaths after watching her leave. I let the cool Autumn wind chill envelope me as I felt the colorful leaves of Autumn fall onto me. I slowly opened my eyes and my world became dizzy. I tried to hold my ground and fixate my eyes toward Yeojin. 

“Olivia Hye? What a coincidence seeing you here,” I heard a voice drawl. 

It was Jeno again? Well, he was going to a meeting and I was right next to the parking lot. 

“Oh, um, hi, Jeno,” I awkwardly spit out. 

Jeno smiled warmly at me. “What are you doing out here?”

“Oh, um, I’m just waiting on a friend. She’s… um… meeting with a business partner.”

Jeno gave me an amused smirk. “How funny. So am I, if you’ll remember.”

“Oh, right,” I said with a slight frown. 

“Well, it looks like the person I’m meeting with is waiting for me, so I better get going. I’ll see you later, Olivia Hye,” Jeno said with a charming smirk and a gleam in his eye, both of which made me feel uneasy. 

I studied him quizzically as I watched him walk away. But… He wasn’t walking into the main parking lot where his car had been before, but rather up the small road that landed you in an even smaller parking lot next to the main parking lot. Where was he going? My heart began to pound with nerves with every step he continued to take until he eventually stopped by a large, old, beat up truck- Wait, that was Loona’s truck. My head spun and I felt an ache in my head as I tried to process this. I watched Jeno turn to talk to a small, brunette- Wait.

What?

He was talking to Yeojin? 

I strained my eyes to get a better look without making myself noticeable. I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but the more I looked at it the clearer everything became. The puzzle pieces started to piece themselves together in my mind as I ran through Jeno and I’s conversation outside of my apartment. 

He said he was meeting a client… He had art supplies… He works at the art gallery that is hosting the art gallery….

Jeno… was our contact? 

I tried my best to hear what they were saying, but I was too far away. I finally let my curiosity run free and I silently walked over to where they were and hid behind a car. I was able to get a better look at both Yeojin and Jeno and I could hear most of what they were saying. Yeojin looked just as shocked as I did. I assumed that she had known that Jeno was our neighbor. 

Ever since my conversation with Jeno outside of my apartment, I sensed that there was something more to Jeno. I just could have never guessed that he was working with Loona. 

I crouched behind a car and tried to look through the windows at Jeno and Yeojin in order not to be seen. Unless… No, that wasn’t possible. Jeno had gotten weird after he first heard my name, Olivia Hye. Olivia Hye… The name I used as my online alias as a computer hacker. I felt the blood drain from my face as the possibility dawned on me. Did Jeno… know about me? Is that why he kept calling me Olivia Hye? 

I peered out of the tinted car windows to find… nothing? Where were Yeojin and Jeno? I stepped away from the car and looked around only to find nothing. It was like they had disappeared. I felt my breath start to grow heavy as I began to get dizzy.

I heard a voice gasp. “She’s about to pass out!” I heard footsteps coming towards me and suddenly I was face to face with Yeojin who looked incredibly concerned. “Hey, it’s alright, Olivia. I’m here.”

“Where… did… you… go…?” I weakly asked. I suddenly clung onto Yeojin as I started to feel my legs grow weak.

“I’m sorry. We came up behind you because he told me that you were spying on us. If you wanted to join the meeting you could have told me,” Yeojin said, worried, with a weak smile. 

“He?”

“That would be me,” I heard Jeno call out as he approached me with a smile. “Hello, Olivia Hye. You and Minjoo know each other? What a coincidence,” he drawled with a charming smirk. It took me a moment to realize that Minjoo was Yeojin’s alias. I don’t think I was ever told of her alias name. 

Yeojin gave Jeno a confused look. “You know Olivia?”

“We’ve run into each other quite a bit. How do you know her?” Jeno plastered a fake confused expression on his face that seemed to fool Yeojin.

I knew better. He was messing with me. He knew that Yeojin and I worked together. He knew that I was a part of Loona. 

“Well, we-”

“Drop the act,” I weakly growled. I tried to stand on my own and release my hands from Yeojin’s arm. 

Jeno looked at me in surprise and amusement. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know you know who I am.”

“Of course I do. It’s not like we’re strangers,” he smartly responded with an amused grin. 

I started to feel myself getting angry. “You also know the Olivia Hye that’s a part of Loona, and who’s a computer hacker, don’t you?”

Jeno pretended to consider my words before turning to me and giving me a full, bright smile. “Well, I’ve obviously heard of the famed Loona, and of Olivia Hye, but I’m ashamed to admit I never realized that Olivia Hye was a part of Loona. Now, should we go and get started on this meeting? I’m sure you want the copied paintings as soon as possible.”

I let Yeojin and Jeno continue their meeting, but I stood next to them and watched out of curiosity. The already charming artist seemed to be even more charismatic and charming as he discussed the art scam with Yeojin and it made me not able to tear my eyes away from him.


	11. Jinsoul

Time really does fly. Before I knew it, it was Monday again. It had been a week since I had met with Jaehyun at his parent’s restaurant, and I had been in such an off mood since. 

I had tried to steal several cars, but every time something went wrong. Either I got distracted or forgot something or almost got caught by the owner and others. My head was in the clouds and I couldn’t get it to return to planet Earth. 

I knew I needed to hurry up and get us a car, but I had no idea what was wrong with me. I just couldn’t stop thinking about Jaehyun… And I had no idea why. He didn’t have a particularly nice personality, but it didn’t stop him from running from my mind day after day. I had begun to count the days before it was Monday again.   
I had tried to focus on other things. I had tried shopping, running, even reading to get that man out of mind, but he just wouldn’t leave. I felt like I just had to see him again. I wanted so badly to go back into the restaurant on Monday and talk to him again, but I was falling behind on my work. His car was basically my last chance. Jungeun was planning to steal a car instead of me if I didn’t get Jaehyun’s car, which I didn’t mind, but I didn’t want to appear useless. 

Maybe… Maybe I could steal his car and visit him… His car would be easier to steal if I had the keys…

Suddenly my mind swarmed with ideas. The easiest way to do it would be to do it the way I knew best. This would be fun. I considered the layout of Jung’s Palace and concocted my plan. All I needed to do was look and play the part, and before I knew it Jaehyun would be eating out of the palm of my hands. I would need help though…   
I quickly made my way next door to yyxy’s apartment and knocked on the door. I needed someone from yyxy to disable whatever security cameras Jung’s Palace had installed while I stole Jaehyun’s car. I didn’t have a preference in which member I wanted to help me, I would take whoever opened the door for me. 

The door slowly creaked open, and I saw a timid figure behind the door. I smiled, pleased. I knew exactly who it was. 

“Hey, Hyejoo,” I called out with a bright smile. 

Hyejoo suddenly emerged from behind the door and looked at me in shock. “How did you know it was me?”

“By your actions, silly. No other yyxy member would hide behind the door like that,” I explained. “Now, can I come in? I need your help.”

Hyejoo’s eyes widened in surprise. “You need my help?”

“Well, I’m fine with help from anyone from yyxy, but since you answered the door, you get to help me. Lucky you!” 

Hyejoo smiled weakly and extended the door open so I could come in. I walked in and looked around their apartment. It looked almost identical to Odd Eye Circle’s apartment. 

“Um, do you want to sit down?” Hyejoo awkwardly asked.

I smiled warmly and nodded. “Sure.” 

I followed Hyejoo to her couch and sat down next to her. “Now, I need your help. Tonight I’m going to be going to a restaurant called Jung’s Palace to meet with… Well, basically I’m going to get a car for us tonight,” I began to explain.

Hyejoo looked at me carefully, deep in thought. “So… You need me to disable the security cameras in and outside the building?”

I looked up at her in surprise. “Yeah, exactly.” 

“Alright. What time?”

“Um… maybe around 9? I’ll tell you the exact time when I get there.”

“Ok.”

“Hey, thanks, Hyejoo.”

“Yeah, of course.”

I suddenly jumped to my feet in excitement. It was time to prepare for my little ‘meeting’ with Jaehyun tonight. “Well, I’ll see you later, Hyejoo,” I quickly said as I bounced out of Hyejoo’s apartment and back into my own. 

“Yerim? Jungeun? You guys home?” I loudly called out when I arrived back at my own apartment. 

“Um, no, they’re not, sorry,” Yeojin answered as she stood up and approached me. 

I stared at Yeojin thoughtfully. I didn’t know much about her, but she would have to do as Yerim and Jungeun’s substitutes for today. 

“Well, that’s alright. Do you have any work you need to do right now?”

Yeojin stared at me in surprise, clearly taken aback. “What? Um, no, I don’t.” 

“Great! Well, congratulations, you get to help me,” I informed her.

She just gave me a confused look. “Excuse me?”

“You get to help me doll up. I need to look nice, like we’re talking date worthy. But don’t worry, it’s really not that hard. Guys always fall for me whenever I do this.”

Whenever I needed something from a guy, I would meet them at a fancy restaurant, dress up, and pour on the charm. I was irresistible. It was also too much fun. Having guys at my control and being able to get whatever I wanted out of them. Even though Jaehyun was cold and stiff, he was going to be blown away by me.

I ran into the room I shared with Yerim, and Yeojin reluctantly followed me. I opened the closet and started examining each outfit in the small closet. I wanted something very classy and fancy, to sweep Jaehyun off his feet. They were always easier to manipulate when they were caught off guard. I explained my plan to Yeojin and we both began to rummage through my closet in search for the perfect outfit. The messy closet was stuffed with so many clothes that I didn’t even know I owned. I hung onto way too many clothes for someone who moved so often. But it was always useful in times like this when I needed to accessorize for our job.   
Suddenly Yeojin pulled out a dress and held it against me to study what it might look like on me. A smile of amazement crept onto her face. 

“Jinsoul… This dress is gorgeous. It would look so pretty on you,” Yeojin said, admiring the dress. 

I took some time to study the dress. It was a simple, short, off the shoulder dress that looked pretty tight fitting. The color was an ethereal pale pink. I tried to remember the last time I had worn the dress. Where had I even gotten it? 

“Where did you find this?” I asked Yeojin, curiously, holding up the dress.

“It was in the back of your closet.”

Ah. That explains it. I tend to only wear what’s in the front of the closet. It’s just easier to wear what’s more accessible. But the dress Yeojin had picked out was perfect. If I matched the perfect accessories to it, it would be even more stunning. Just you wait, Jung Jaehyun, this’ll be a night you’ll never forget. 

I moved over to the small vanity that sat next to my bed and rummaged through it until I found a pile of jewelry that were stacked on top of one another in a messy fashion. I pulled the jewelry apart from each other to get a better look at them. I compared them to the dress until I found what I was looking for. A simple, silver chain necklace with a small, glittering crescent moon charm. I also pulled out silver, small hoop earrings. I set the necklace and earrings apart from the main pile of all my jewelry and went back to my closet to pick out a pair of shoes. I looked up to see Yeojin staring at me with an amused look planted on her face. She looked away, startled, when our eyes met. 

“Honestly, dressing up like this is my favorite part of my job,” I told Yeojin with a grin. 

“I can tell,” Yeojin replied, amused. 

I stared at myself in the mirror, mulling over what I should do with my hair. I studied the long, wavy, blonde mess on the top of my head. My thick, tangled hair was in messy knots even through several minutes of violently scraping my hairbrush against it. 

I opened the small drawer in the vanity and threw my hands into it to rummage through the cramped space and try to find my hair straightener. 

“Ah-hah!” I exclaimed cheerfully, pulling out the hair iron. 

Yeojin looked up at me in surprise with her wide, dark eyes. “You’re going to straighten your hair, too?”

“Why not? This is the one time I have a work excuse to dress up,” I winked. 

“Well… Do you need help with straightening your hair?” Yeojin suddenly asked, awkwardly. 

Her eyes darted all around awkwardly and I could tell she wanted to help me. Maybe it had been a while since she’d had a complete makeover or her hair done. Or maybe she wanted to get to know me better. Yeojin was always quiet and never really tried to befriend or open up to the other Loona members. Maybe that’s what the young girl needed. She was only 18.

I flashed a genuine, warm smile at the young girl and rummaged through the vanity drawer again to pull out my curling iron. “Sure. You can straighten my hair if you let me curl your hair.”

Yeojin’s wide eyes got even wider as she looked at me in surprise. Her eyes quickly narrowed at me as if she was studying me and my intentions before softening her look. “Are- Are you sure? Do you even have the time-?”

“Of course I do! Now come over here, girl. I bet your hair looks great curled.” 

“I- I- I’ve actually never curled it…” Yeojin quietly explained. 

I looked up at her in surprise. “Really? Well, then of course we have to curl it!”

I quickly plugged in the curling iron to the nearest outlet and began to heat it up. I took a minute to study Yeojin’s hair. Her thick, caramel colored hair rested on her shoulders in a bouncy bob. The more I stared at it, the more I was dying to curl it. 

“But- What about your own hair?”

I looked at the straightening iron in my hand in surprise. I had completely forgotten that I was holding it. “Don’t worry, Yeojin, I don’t need to straighten my hair,” I simply answered as I picked up the hair brush from the vanity and gestured for Yeojin to sit on the small stool that stood under the vanity. 

Yeojin awkwardly made her way to the vanity and sat down. I could tell that the poor girl was clearly feeling uncomfortable so I shot her a reassuring smile and began to softly run my brush through her hair. Her thick hair was as smooth as silk and I watched, entranced, as her shiny hair bounced right back into its original position. 

I tried not to think about the time and how I still needed to get ready. I wanted my mind to stay in this moment. I didn’t know anything about Yeojin’s family or how she came to join Loona, but I needed to be there for her. I wanted to give her the simple moments she had never experienced in her young lifespan- like curling her hair.   
I twirled the thick, caramel locks of hair around the curling iron and watched as they bounced right back to her face, but this time they were in small curls. 

I tried to get Yeojin to open up to me but talking comfortably with her, but the young girl remained stiff. At least I tried. 

“Ah-hah. I’m finally finished,” I loudly announced, admiring Yeojin’s hair in the mirror. 

Yeojin gasped as she ran her fingers through her now curled hair. “It- It looks really nice… Thanks, Jinsoul…” she shyly thanked me, peeling her eyes away from the mirror for a second to face me. 

A proud grin flashed on my face. “No problem, I love doing other’s hair.”

Yeojin stared at me quizzically for a few moments and I was puzzled as to what she was doing. The small girl suddenly stood up from the seat at the vanity and unplugged the curling iron. She set it aside carefully and plugged in the hair straightener. She turned to me and grinned. 

“Sit down, Jinsoul. It’s my turn to do your hair.”  
I couldn’t help the wide smile that crossed my face as I bounced onto the seat. “I don’t think I’ll be able to do as great of a job as you did with my hair, but I’ve straightened some of my friends hair before.”

And just like that I had gotten Yeojin to open up to me. The small, reclusive girl who always looked so pained and uncomfortable to talk to the other Odd Eye Circle members and the other Loona members in general.  
For the next half hour, Yeojin helped me get ready to go Jung’s Palace. I had gotten so caught up in talking with her that I had completely forgotten about my mission to steal Jaehyun’s car. I would much rather stay here with Yeojin, but it’s not like I could just ignore my job. I usually had a lot of freedom in completing my jobs when I wanted to, but we needed a car. 

Before I knew it, I had to leave for Jung Palace. I took one last glance at myself in the mirror.

“...Wow. You look amazing,” Yeojin exclaimed with a supportive grin. 

I couldn’t peel my eyes off of the mirror. I couldn’t stop admiring whoever it was that was looking back at me in the mirror. Was this really me I was looking at? It was the first time I had felt like I was truly a grown woman. I looked like I really was going on a date. A feeling of misery suddenly swept over me. Would I ever be able to live normally? Would I ever be able to date or marry? How could I, as a member of Loona? Would I have to leave Loona? Who would want to date a criminal like me? Would I have to hide my identity? 

I became overwhelmed with a… sadness I had never experienced. What was happening to me? I peered at myself in the mirror with sad eyes. Would I ever be able to live a normal life? Would I ever be able to live in one place for more than a few months and buy a car instead of steal one? 

No, I couldn’t think about that. I just had to continue living my life, it’s not like I could start over, and it’s not like I had a bad life. I had just suddenly developed a yearning for a… normal life. 

I tried to shake those thoughts off of me as I approached Jung’s Palace. I practiced my flashy, flirtatious smile to myself as I held my head high and walked inside the restaurant like I owned the place. I needed some confidence to stop the thoughts I had been having. 

“Jenny! Hi,” Mrs. Jung warmly welcomed me.

“Hi, Mrs. Jung,” I greeted her with a smile. 

I looked around for a sign of Jaehyun- I had already seen his car parked in the parking lot of the restaurant. 

“Here, sit down,” Mrs. Jung said, walking towards a booth in the back and gesturing for me to follow her. 

I followed her, looking for signs of Jaehyun. Where was he? Mrs. Jung stopped in front of the booth. 

“Thanks-” I began before turning to the booth and seeing who was sitting in it. 

Well. It looks like I had finally found Jaehyun. 

“You? What are you doing here?” Jaehyun asked me, annoyed. 

“I don’t know, your mom led me here,” I dryly responded.

“Jenny came alone again, so it’s only polite that you eat with the young lady, Jaehyun,” Mrs. Jung answered, glaring at her son. 

To my surprise, Jaehyun didn’t put up much of a fight. “Fine,” he reluctantly said with an exasperated sigh. 

He was already agreeing to eat with me? Maybe this was going to be easier than I thought. 

“Oh, are you sure? I don’t want to bother Jaehyun,” I countered to Mrs. Jung, with a frown.

“Of course! Jaehyun, would be glad to accompany you,” Mrs. Jung cheerfully said, and after gesturing for me to sit down, she went back to the front of the shop, leaving me and Jaehyun alone. 

The awkward atmosphere fogged my brain as I sat down across from Jaehyun. His dark, voidless eyes shot daggers at me and suddenly I felt my stomach churn with nerves. I nervously started drumming my fingers on the table as I tried to avoid eye contact with Jaehyun. I just couldn’t seem to stare into the deep abyss that was Jaehyun’s coffee tinted eyes without butterflies in my stomach suddenly appearing and fluttering faster than a cheetah chasing its prey. 

I slowly lifted my eyes up to see what Jaehyun was doing, only to see him looking back at me. He wore a somewhat surprised expression that suddenly morphed into a glare once he noticed me staring at him. 

“What are you doing here by yourself again? Did your boyfriend stand you up or something?” Jaehyun dryly asked, not taking his eyes off of me.

I held my tongue from spitting an insult back at him and tried my best not to roll my eyes at the snide remark.

“No. I don’t have a boyfriend,” I simply answered, flashing a flirtatious smile at Jaehyun.

Jaehyun gave me a confused look, and I almost groaned in frustration. I needed to try harder to be able to manipulate him, but I didn’t have a lot of time. 

“Then why do you look like you’re dressed for a date?” Jaehyun gruffly inquired. 

It was my turn to be surprised. I became surprisingly taken aback by Jaehyun’s question, and as I tried to think of a response, my mind became inactive and my eyes wandered back to Jaehyun. What was happening to me? I couldn’t get distracted now.

“Um… I was out with some friends,” I awkwardly answered, inwardly wincing at my poor answer. 

I finally was able to pry my eyes away from Jaehyun and scan the area around us. I saw Jaehyun fishing for something in his coat pocket. I almost smiled as I heard the high pitched sound of metallic keys bumping into each other. I had completed the first step of my plan, I had located his car keys. Jaehyun then removed his coat and set it next to him. Even better. 

I looked back up at Jaehyun who was yet again staring at me. I couldn’t tell if he was staring at me in an affectionate or confused way. Why was analyzing Jaehyun so hard? Maybe he was just an unpredictable person. Hm… That made me nervous. 

A waiter approached the booth and took our order. After the waiter left Jaehyun and I were back to awkwardly staring at each other. I checked the time. I had only been in the restaurant for a few minutes. I quickly pulled out my phone and shot Hyejoo a text to tell her to turn off the security cameras in about 10 minutes. She responded almost immediately with an, ‘ok.’ 

I didn’t want the security cameras to be disabled directly before or after I arrived at the restaurant. I always liked to wait a few minutes so that I wouldn’t seem suspicious. I silently put my phone in my pocket and caught Jaehyun staring at me yet again. 

“Why do you keep staring at me?” I asked, crossing my arms, annoyed. 

A smirk planted itself onto Jaehyun’s already smug expression. “If you’re uncomfortable you can leave.”

“Are you really trying to kick out a customer?” I scoffed. 

“It’s not kicking you out if you leave on your own free will.” 

I rolled my eyes and glared at that unbelievable man. “I’m not leaving. If anyone should leave, it should be you. I’m the customer here,” I shot back instantly regretting my words. No, no, no, Jinsoul, why? If Jaehyun left I couldn’t take his car. What was I thinking? 

“I wish I could leave. But my mother insists I eat with you,” Jaehyun dryly said, his voice dripping with bitter disdain.

“Yeah, she just wants you to be a good person for once,” I innocently remarked, shooting a fake smile at Jaehyun. 

Jaehyun looked at me in surprise, he seemed to be offended by my words. Hah. Good. 

“What are you implying?” he angrily sneered. 

Uh-oh. Man, it was too easy to upset this man. Ugh. Why couldn’t I just shut my mouth for once? 

“I’m not implying anything,” I defensively retaliated.

“You’re implying that I’m a bad person.” Jaehyun bluntly countered. 

“No, not at all.”

“What makes you think you can imply something like that when we’ve only seen each other a few times?”

My eyes almost widened in surprise at Jaehyun’s bitter tone. I felt rage boil up inside of me and I tried to contain it. Did he really not see how infuriating he was?

“Hm… looks like I’ve struck a nerve.” I smirked in triumph. 

“I asked you a valid question.”

“And I’d rather not give you a valid response,” I simply replied. 

Jaehyun glared at me as if I had just initiated the end of the world. Maybe I really had struck a nerve. Jinsoul, stop now! Retreat and slowly bring the conversation to… food or something. 

Jaehyun opened his mouth to fight back, but he was cut off by a waiter coming by to bring up our food. I was close to sighing in relief. I heard a soft buzz coming from my pocket and realized I must have not silenced my phone. I silently checked to see who had texted me. Ah-hah. It was Hyejoo telling me that she had done her job. I smiled for a second before my stomach dropped. That meant I had to continue the plan now. I bit my lip, nervous. Jaehyun and I hadn’t been getting along… Would this even work? Yes, it had to work. I had no clue what to do if it didn’t work. 

“Sorry about what I said early. I shouldn’t have judged you based on our few meetings. I spoke too quickly as usual,” I awkwardly lied in order for my plan not to completely fall apart. I shocked myself by realizing how much of that statement was actually true. 

Jaehyun’s eyes narrowed at me, as if he was suspicious of my apology. How cute. An amused smile slipped onto my face. His eyes widened in surprise at my reaction and he sighed. “It’s not your fault. You weren’t exactly that off on what you said about me,” he quietly admitted. 

His sudden vulnerability as opposed to his normal, dry, blunt self caught me off guard. Maybe this was actually going to work. 

I quickly checked the time, closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath. It was time for the next step of my plan. It was time to take his car keys. 

I began to fish through my purse as if I was trying to find something. I frowned in a fake frustration and I continued to look through my purse, trying to make a scene so that Jaehyun would notice me. 

“Is there something wrong?” Jaehyun questioned, surprising me by showing real concern.

“My… my wallet… I can’t find it… I swear I put it in my purse…”

“You’re missing your wallet? Did you leave it at your house?”

“No, I brought it here…. I had it in my hand before I… Well, I swear I thought I put it in my purse after sitting down here…” I lied, hopefully convincingly. 

Jaehyun stared at me and looked down at my purse in worry. Was he… actually concerned for me? 

“Maybe you left it near the front door. I’ll go check,” he offered, immediately standing up and walking towards the front of the restaurant. 

I frowned in surprise. He didn’t even ask what the wallet looked like. I quickly looked around and walked over to where Jaehyun was sitting. I swiftly pulled his car keys out of his jacket pocket and stashed them into my purse. I hastily made my way back to my seat and let a smirk cross my face in success. Everything was working out perfectly. Now it was finally time to actually steal the car. The amount of preparation that went into just taking the car keys seemed excessive, but it was necessary. 

“I can’t seem to find your wallet,” I suddenly heard a voice call out, startling me. 

“I never told you what mine looks like,” I told Jaehyun, surprised.

“Yeah, well it doesn’t matter. I couldn’t find any wallet anyway,” Jaehyun explained, quietly taking his seat.

I prepared to begin the next step of my plan, but I couldn’t help but feel concerned about Jaehyun. He was strangely silent and was wearing a sad look on his face.

“Are- Are you alright?” I asked, genuine concern filling my voice. 

Jaehyun slowly raised his head to look up at me in surprise. “Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t find your wallet.”

I couldn’t help the shocked look that crossed my face. He was upset that he couldn’t find my wallet? What? Why? 

“It’s just that… Well… I had my wallet stolen here before,” Jaehyun sheepishly explained. 

Ah. That’s why he was acting so weird. He thought my wallet had been stolen. I surprisingly found his strange concern for me endearing. And the bright twinkle in his deep, coffee colored eyes was adorable. 

Wait. 

What was I saying?

“Actually… Well, the reason my mom probably made me eat with you- both times- is because…” Jaehyun hesitated. “Well, a while ago I was in love with this girl. I brought her on a date here so that… So that I could propose to her… And…” Jaehyun sighed. “Long story short… I found out that she was just using me for my… Well… I know my parents just own a small restaurant… But my dad used to be a surgeon… And… Let’s just say we’re pretty well off. Anyway, she had been using me for my money… and she even… She even stole my wallet when I brought her here to propose,” Jaehyun hesitantly explained. “That’s why I was concerned when you said you were missing your wallet.”

I felt my heart plummet to the ground. Knowing Jaehyun had been hurt like this before didn’t make my job any easier. What was I supposed to do? I already had his car keys and the security cameras were already turned off. I couldn’t turn back now. My conscience screamed at me to not steal his car and return the keys, and I tried to block it out. There was no time to feel bad when I had a car to steal. 

I silently took a deep breath and allowed my mind to focus on my job. I pulled out my phone, my fingers numb as I knew what was coming. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I begged myself to speak, I had to continue with my plan. 

I looked at my phone and frowned in a pretend confusion. “One second, Jaehyun, I have to take this phone call,” I quickly said to Jaehyun before pretending to take a call. 

“Hello?” I said to the nonexistent person on the other end of my phone. 

I pretended to listen intently to the caller, and widened my eyes in fake alarm. I pretended to end the phone call, and I started to force my breathing to become heavy and my hands to shake. 

“Jenny? What’s wrong?” Jaehyun asked, his tone soft and filled to the brim with concern. 

I tried to look him in the eyes but couldn’t. Good. That was better for my act. 

“It- I- I’m sorry… I need to go right away… My friend… She fell while she was at her home and is now in the hospital… I- I need to go,” I replied, dazed.

I quickly grabbed my things in a panicked rush and stood up to leave. This was it.

“I- Do you need a ride to the hospital?”

“No, I- I’m sorry. I really need to go, now,” I frantically said, rushing out of the restaurant. 

Once I was outside the building, I peered into the window to see if Jaehyun followed me. He didn’t. He was talking to his parents. I assumed it was to explain what happened with me. I waited a long minute to see if he would return to the booth. He did. 

Alright, Jinsoul, now you’re really in the homestretch, I told myself. I quickly grabbed Jaehyun’s car keys out of my pocket and unlocked the car with my shaky hands. I looked around to see if anyone was in the parking lot, and when I didn’t see anyone, I slipped into Jaehyun’s car and instantly started the car. I drove as fast as I could out of the parking lot and towards my apartment- my breath still heavy and my hands still shaky. 

I couldn’t get the image of how sad Jaehyun was just telling me about his ex and what happened. And now I was doing the same. I groaned in frustration as I parked the car. I tried to clear my mind and plan my next move, but Jaehyun clouded my mind. What was he going to think of me now? And, more importantly, why did I care so much?


	12. Yeojin

“I’m leaving now, Jinsoul, I’ll see you later,” I called as I grabbed my sweater. 

“Yeah… See you…” Jinsoul glumly responded. 

I hesitated before walking out the door as I stared at a surprisingly gloomly Jinsoul. She had come home from stealing a car the previous night depressed and wouldn’t say a reason as to why. She sulked in her room until Yerim dragged her out to watch a movie on the TV. 

I couldn't help but feel bad for her. I didn’t know why she was so upset, of course, but I could guess. I knew she had met up with a guy when she went out to get paintings from the owners of Jung’s Palace. I was pretty sure that was the same guy who owned the car she stole. I didn’t know much about Jinsoul, but I couldn’t help but think she had caught feelings for the man.   
I decided to leave her alone and I quietly made my way out of the apartment building. I felt bad for not at least asking how she was, especially after she put so much effort into spending time with me before she left to steal the car. 

But I had to remind myself that I couldn’t get attached. To her or to anyone here. Getting attached would be my downfall. Or so Jaemin said. But I trusted him. After all, I had lived with him for years. 

I admired the colorful leaves on the autumn trees as I walked towards the small bakery I had been going to for years. Jaemin first brought me to the bakery to get to know more about me when his family first decided to foster me. It was now a routine for me to go there. I had seen the lineup of staff change several times and it was kind of fun to compare them to each other. The new staff members were two young guys. One smart and one clueless. Jaemin would have been disappointed with my not so fleshed out analysis of the two staff members. But I just found it bothersome to analyze everyone I came across. Jaemin seemed like he could write whole essays about the people who checked him out at the grocery store. 

I had tried to analyze all of the Loona members, and it turned out to be more challenging than I expected. Some were easy to read and others were simply unreadable. Like Jinsoul for example. I couldn’t understand why she had ever decided to become a criminal or join a group like Loona. She was impulsive and spunky, maybe she had joined for the fun and thrill of it. And then there was Haseul. Ah, Jo Haseul. On the surface Haseul appeared to be sly, smart, and calculating, but she had such a big heart. She made her lies all too convincing, as you knew that she really was a kind person, but was that just a facade? I couldn’t tell. 

Haseul had instantly welcomed me into Loona with open arms even as the other members grumbled and complained about a new member. She took me under her wing and seemed to play the role of the mother of Loona. She was nurturing and manipulative at the same time. It puzzled me to try to find out her motives for her actions. She was really just a puzzle that I couldn’t solve. I couldn’t figure out if I was missing a piece or if I had one to many pieces or how to even put the pieces together. I hated the fact that I couldn’t solve the puzzle. She was simply a mystery. 

“Oh, hey, it’s you again. It’s Yeojin, right?” the cheerey employee of the bakery asked. 

“Oh, yeah,” I answered in surprise. 

“Chenle, I still can’t figure out what the 13 letter word meaning ‘a character of the second most importance’ is,” the other employee dryly complained. “The 7th letter was A or something, right?”

A 13 letter word meaning ‘a character of the second most importance’ and the 7th letter is an A… My head spun as I ran my mind through my vast vocabulary in order to secure the correct word. Ah, there it was. Deuteragonist. 

“Jisung, you’re really still on that? Look it up or something,” Chenle dismissively said.

I watched as Jisung sighed and pulled out his phone. He had a customer in the bakery and he was focused on figuring out a simple word? Well, possibly it was just simple to me. I assumed my vocabulary was much larger than Jisung’s as I was fluent in five different languages and was studying two more. 

“Ah… I think I found it… According to the internet… The answer is deuteragonist…? Chenle, have you ever heard of that word?”

Chenle shot a weary glare at Jisung and sighed. “No, I can’t say that I have, but we have a customer here, remember? Forget about that crossword puzzle. I thought I threw away that newspaper anyway.”

Newspaper? Interesting. In an age of technology and the internet, these young guys still use a newspaper? I suppose outdated sources of information can be helpful to those who don’t have access to the internet. These employees continue to prove to be intriguing. 

“Sure, I know we have a customer. But you’re taking her order, aren't you?” Jisung asked, annoyed. 

Chenle simply rolled his eyes and turned to me to take my order. I placed my order, paid, and then made my table to a small, round table that sat next to the window. Suddenly, I received a text from Jaemin. Find out who the man was who owned the car that your Loona member stole. You know what to do. I heaved a sigh in frustration. Jaemin didn’t need to worry about me. I would get the job done. I always had. But this time… This time was different… For some reason. Just the thought of betraying Jinsoul made my stomach drop. How was I supposed to face her after that? I was tempted to ignore Jaemin’s text and act like I accidentally deleted it, but I knew I had a job to do. 

Oh no. It was already happening. I was already starting to grow attached. What was I supposed to do now? Everything I had been taught suddenly came in conflict with one another in a hard fought battle that no side seemed to win. I couldn’t just abandon everything I knew and was taught. It would be fine if they never knew it was I who betrayed them, right? I knew that wouldn’t make me feel any better, but there was nothing I could do about it.


	13. Hyejoo

I glanced out the window at the overcast skies. The bright sun was hidden by a blanket of dark, gloomy clouds that covered the entire sky. The roaring, chilly wind capped off the gloomy atmosphere and my mood. I wearily laid on my bed, not wanting to get up. I didn’t have much work to do, and my mind needed a break from worrying about Jeno. 

Jeno. Just thinking about his name wanted to make me groan. I couldn’t believe that all this time he knew that I was Olivia Hye, and that he knew about the computer hacker, Olivia Hye. And that he was our contact for the art festival scam. All these surprises had hit me all at once like a powerful wave.

I sighed and decided to pull out my computer. I slowly opened it up and all I could think was the previous night. I had helped Jinsoul with turning off security cameras in a restaurant, but all I could think of was Olivia Hye. I wondered if others had heard of her like Jeno did. I had broken into many systems and participated in quite a few online scams. But how had Jeno heard of me? He had also said he knew about Loona. Well, he obviously did since he was working with us, but were we really that well known? I had never thought that any of the scams we pulled off would have garnered any attention, but apparently I was wrong. The other Loona members went out more and were in contact with other con artists and people we had worked with before, so maybe they were more aware of it. I guess my isolation from the world led to less awareness, but I’d rather be in the comforts of my home than out in the unknown world. 

I sat up in surprise when I heard the sudden sound of someone knocking on the door. 

“I’ll get it!” Jiwoo called out, running up to the front door to open it. 

I frowned as I tried to think of who it could be. I didn’t think we were expecting any members from the other units to come over. I listened closely to see if I could tell who Jiwoo was talking to. 

“Hyejoo! Some guy’s here to see you. He says his name is Lee Jeno or something,” Jiwoo called out to me.

I instinctively hopped off of my bed in surprise. Jeno was here? To see me? What did he want? I cautiously made my way to the front door to see Jeno standing next to Jiwoo, smiling at me.

“Hello, Olivia,” Jeno greeted me with a warm smile.

“Olivia?” Jiwoo turned to me, puzzled. Her eyes suddenly widened and she turned to me. “Should I have not called you Hyejoo earlier? Sorry, I didn’t know…” she said in alarm.

“It’s… It’s alright, Jiwoo. He’s… He’s our contact for the art festival job,” I whispered to Jiwoo.

Jiwoo’s eyes managed to widen even more as she stared at Jeno who smirked in response. “You’re our contact? Wait, how do you know, Hyejoo?”

I simply shrugged. “I went with Y- Minjoo to meet the contact. Jeno also lives in this apartment building.”

“What? Wow, what a coincidence. Wait.. Minjoo? The… new member, right?” Jiwoo asked. 

I nodded and turned to Jeno. “Um… Did you need something?” I awkwardly asked.

“Just your time. I want to talk to you for a minute, Olivia,” Jeno explained. 

“Oh, um, alright. Do- Do you want to sit down?” I stumbled over my words, awkwardly. 

Jeno flashed his charming smile at me and nodded. “Sure.”

Jiwoo gave me one last puzzled look before going back to her room to give me and Jeno privacy. Why did he come over anyway? 

I slowly trudged over to the kitchen table, my stomach doing somersaults as I anticipated what he was going to say. I watched as Jeno took his time following me and sitting down across from me. I wondered if he was doing that on purpose. Did he know that he was killing me by drawing his visit out instead of getting to the point? I began to nervously swing my foot in the air under the table. Jeno began to stare at me with an intensity that immediately made me anxious. 

All the various thoughts in my mind suddenly fled my mind, leaving it blank as I caught myself staring into Jeno’s eyes, in a complete trance. I couldn’t seem to look away. I abruptly stood up to cut my focus off from Jeno. When Jeno looked up at me in surprise, I froze sheepishly. 

“Um… Would you like something to drink?” I sheepishly asked, making my way to the cabinets to grab a glass for myself. 

“No thank you,” Jeno answered, looking at me in amazement. 

Why was he continuing to stare at me like that? I quickly turned away from him, but I could still feel his gaze on me. I tried to get a hold of myself as I quietly poured a glass of water for myself. I forced my eyes not to meet Jeno’s as I trudged back to the table. 

“Um, what is it you want?” I asked. 

“Why, just to talk about the fascinating Olivia Hye.”

I furrowed my brow in confusion and slowly looked up at Jeno. The fascinating Olivia Hye? What was he talking about?

“E-Excuse me?” I managed to squeak out. 

“To be honest, you’ve been on my radar for quite some time. I’ve worked with a lot of people before you have worked with Loona. They all told me that all their easiest and more successful jobs came from working with you guys. Naturally, I was intrigued. And then I heard you guys were going to pull an art fraud scam at the art festival, and I just couldn’t pass up that opportunity. I have to admit, you are better than I thought you would be. The job is going quite well, wouldn’t you say?”

“I- I wouldn’t know. I- I’m just here when other members need a system to be hacked into,” I quietly replied. 

Jeno gives me a surprised look and then narrows his eyes at me. “Well, that’s no fun, is it? Wouldn’t you want to be a part of the action?” he asked, his dark eyes gleaming with excitement. 

“Um… I’m more used to hacking… It’s what I’m best at…” I truthfully answered. 

“And painting replicas is what I’m best at, but that doesn’t mean I only paint replicas.”

His words caused a frown to tug at the edge of my lips. What was he getting at? 

“Of course, it is easier for me to paint replicas for art fraud jobs like this one, especially since I work at an art gallery,” Jeno continued. 

“But isn’t it also riskier since you’re working at the art gallery who’s hosting the festival you’re trying to scam?” I wondered aloud. 

Jeno looked at me in surprise and a smile crossed his lips as his dark, vibrant eyes gazed into my own. “My, Olivia Hye, are you worried about me?”

His soft, teasing tone took me by surprise. Why did he continue to call me Olivia Hye? It made me full uncomfortable, and I tried to muster up the courage to try to correct him. I clutched my cup tightly and looked down at the ground. “Please… Don’t call me that…”

“Didn’t you say I could call you what I’d like?” Jeno asked, amusement creeping into his voice. 

Did he think this was funny? Why did everything seem to be a joke to Jeno? 

“I- I know I said that… But please just call me Hyejoo now…”

Olivia Hye was just an online persona. Son Hyejoo was the real person behind the computer screen. Olivia Hye was everything Son Hyejoo wasn’t. Olivia Hye was the false persona I wished I was more like. She was more of my creation. I created Olivia Hye to be brave and courageous. I wasn’t Olivia Hye. She was a persona I hid behind in order to do my work. 

Jeno gave me an amused look at my request. “But you said-”

“It was a mistake!” I blurted out suddenly. “I- I didn’t know how to respond to your question…” I awkwardly explained.

“You really are a fascinating person, Oli- Hyejoo,” Jeno commented with a smirk. 

I looked up at him in surprise. Was he teasing me? How could he remain so calm and unfazed all the time? His mouth always seemed to be in an amused smirk as if it was its default position. 

“Is it Hyejoo or Olivia Hye who’s as fascinating as you say?” I asked, my annoyance taking over. 

“What’s the difference?”

I blinked in confusion. What’s the difference? What did he mean by that? Did he really believe that Hyejoo and Olivia Hye were the same person? 

“Olivia Hye is just an online persona… Son Hyejoo is who I really am…” I tried to explain. 

Jeno continued to stare at me in amusement, and leaned forward towards me. “Of course. And while I do find Olivia Hye is very interesting, you’ll be glad to know that Son Hyejoo is the one I’m currently amazed with,” he quietly said with a smile that caused butterflies to flutter in my stomach.

I stared into the endless galaxy that was his dark, shiny eyes in a complete trance. I couldn’t form any words in my mind to try to respond to his comment. I couldn’t even think properly. My mind had completely shut off and remained out of function as I continued to peer into Jeno’s inviting eyes. I felt his warm gaze on my skin as he stared back at me. 

“Hyejoo…” I felt Jeno’s breath tickle my skin as he softly called my name. My eyes suddenly widened and the sound of his voice quickly caused me to crash back onto planet Earth. Oh my gosh, what had just happened to me? I whipped my head away from Jeno as quickly as I could to hide my face that was burning from embarrassment. 

“Yes?” I was able to squeak out. 

“I’m aware that Olivia Hye is just a persona. But what’s a better way to get to know the person behind the mask then for you to work for me?” he suddenly asked. 

Work for him? Wasn’t I already working with him?

“What? But I’m already working with you as a part of Loona…” 

“I’m not talking about Loona. I’m talking about you, Hyejoo.”

“But I’m already working with Loona in that scam…” I answered, confused as to why he was asking me this. 

“And what do you think you’ll be doing on the day of the art festival?”

I frowned, perplexed as to what that had to with anything. “Um… I don’t know… Probably whatever hacking needs to be done…” I answered. 

Jeno looked around the room for a second before directing his gaze back at me. “Well, doesn’t it seem like you have enough people to do that? How many people are in Loona? 10? 11?”

“12…”

“Right. Isn’t there enough of you to cover all that stuff?”

What was he getting at? And why did it seem like he was taking forever to get to his point? I had frustratedly watched as Jeno ran circles around his point instead of hitting it head on. 

“What… What are you getting at?” I finally asked. 

“Well, since it seems like you have plenty of people in Loona for the scam, how would you like to directly work for me?” he finally asked me.

I stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for his words to register in my mind. He wanted me to work for him? Why?

“Why? Do you need a hacker?”

Jeno threw me an amused look as he leaned back in the chair. “No. But don’t you want to be part of the action?” he asked, his eyes twinkling in the bright sunlight that poured into the room from the windows. “If you help me personally, I’ll pay you, too,” he added with a smirk.

What? His offer confused me. Actually, everything about him confused me. Why was he asking me of all people? Especially when I had passed out the first time I had met him. 

“Actually… I’m pretty comfortable with my work as it is… Why are you asking me to do this?” 

“Well, for one, the group of men that usually work for me on jobs like this, appear to idolize you,” he dryly answered. “A few of them have been scammed online by you, which they never thought could happen to them because they’re criminals or something. Those fools,” Jeno shook his head disapprovingly. “Anyways, they’d all listen to you, I mean, most of the con men and criminals I’ve met have all heard of you and Loona. And, secondly, you intrigue me,” he quietly admitted, leaning towards me again. “Olivia Hye always intrigued me because of the flawless way she was able to scam my men, but now that I’ve met Son Hyejoo, she exceeds all my expectations. And I’d love to get to know her.”

“I- I-” I stuttered, not knowing how to respond to that.   
I tried to formulate a response, but I was too taken aback by Jeno’s words. He wanted to get to know me? Why? I ended up just staring at him in pure shock when I couldn’t think of anything to say back to him. What was happening to me? I just couldn’t look away from Jeno’s shining skin, bright hair, and deep, chocolate eyes that bore holes into me with such intensity.

“Just… don’t leave me alone… I- I- I can’t be left alone…” I tensely spat out. 

“Excuse me?”

I looked at Jeno’s confused look and then closed my eyes to focus on how to tell Jeno about my fear. I took a deep breath and slowly opened my eyes as I exhaled. “Whenever I am left alone, I have a panic attack… And- And sometimes I pass out… like what you saw when you first met me…” I finally explained. 

My eyes refused to meet Jeno’s, as I was afraid of what his reaction would be. I waited nervously as he considered my words for what felt like an eternity.

“I understand,” he quietly said, looking down at the floor as if something else had his attention. 

I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. He continued to sadly stare at the floor and I couldn’t help but think there was a story behind his sudden behavior switch. 

“Ah, but you never answered my question about working for me.”

It was like a switch had been pulled on Jeno’s behavior. He had suddenly returned to his usual, playful self. I looked up at him in surprise. He was wearing an amused smile that didn’t reach his eyes. His usual bright, shining eyes appeared dull and lifeless. Was he alright? I racked my brain trying to remember if I had said something to offend him. When I couldn’t think of anything, I realized he was waiting for a response. 

“Oh, uh, I-... I… I don’t know yet… I’ll have to think about it,” I finally answered.

Jeno nodded and even though he was looking at me, I could tell he was distracted. We sat in an awkward silence for a moment before Jeno stood up and quietly told me he had to leave. I watched as he silently stalked out of the apartment.

“What was his problem?” Jiwoo asked, walking out of her room towards me.

I simply shrugged. I had no idea. But whatever it was, I couldn’t help but feel bad. I realized he had started acting strange after I brought up the fact that I couldn’t be left alone. Why was that?


	14. Jinsoul

“Jinsoul? Are you up?” I heard Yerim whisper, approaching my bed in our shared room. 

I groaned in response and pulled the sheets over my head to signal that I didn’t want to be disturbed. 

“Ah, so you are up. Hey, you know you have to fix up the car so you don’t get caught,” Yerim said before walking out of the room. 

I shut my eyes tightly to try to sleep my problems away. Just thinking about the car made my stomach do somersaults. Because thinking of the car led me to think about Jaehyun. It hurt to imagine how Jaehyun must have been feeling. 

I tried to get myself to just stop thinking and fall asleep, but I was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching me. 

“Jinsoul, what are you doing? Get up and work on the car before we’re all caught,” Jungeun grouchily commanded, pulling the sheets off of me.

I sighed and tried to glare at her, but I didn’t have the energy. “Can’t you do that? I’m not feeling well,” I lied. 

Well, technically it wasn’t exactly a lie. I wasn’t feeling well. But it wasn’t sickness or anything, it was guilt. I still couldn’t believe what I had done. I thought it was the right choice, but it sure didn’t feel like it. Was the ‘right choice’ supposed to fill me with guilt and regret? I desperately wished I could turn back the clock to the previous night and not steal the car. Out of all the cars in the world… Why in the world did I pick Jaehyun’s? But it’s not like I could return the car or anything. Jaehyun would resent me if he found out that I stole his car. Maybe he already had a hunch that it was me, but having a hunch is different than having proof and knowing for sure.   
What was wrong with me? I had never regretted stealing anything before, so why was I doing it now? I tried to tell myself that it was just some old car, but I should have known better than to try to lie to myself. Sure, maybe the car wasn’t all that special. But the car wasn’t the one that made me fear how someone felt about me for the first time. Jaehyun was. He was probably freaking out about his lost car while the person who stole his car couldn’t stop thinking about him. I was absolutely pathetic. 

I looked around the room to see that Jungeun had decided to leave me alone after all. I could faintly hear her and Yerim talking to each other. Their conversation seemed to be about me. They both appeared to be concerned about me. If I were them I would have been upset too. I wasn’t one to mope around in bed all day. I checked my phone for the time. 11:26. My eyes widened in surprise. That couldn’t be right. I usually liked to start on whatever work I needed to complete at 9:30. Now I had wasted the entire morning when I should have been working on the car. With a groan, I finally threw myself out of bed and began to quickly get ready.

Then, I started on what I liked to call my post-stealing car routine. Well, the steps of the routine always changed depending on the car, and I liked to change the order up, too, but I digress. There were many things I needed to do after I stole a car. I would replace the license plate with one from the many license plates I had collected. I would also make a fake car title and registration, which was usually one of the first things I would do. Then once all the formalities were done, it was time for the fun part. Redecoration. That usually involved repainting the car and placing small stickers on it.   
I forced myself to start on my post-stealing car routine, but Jaehyun never left my mind. Everytime I looked at his car it filled me to the brim with guilt. I knew I was even going to be miserable while redecorating the car, which was always my favorite part of the job. I tried to tell myself to focus, but I didn’t bother in even trying to listen to myself. I checked the cabinets for automotive paint to paint the car with, but I couldn’t seem to find it. 

I looked all around the apartment for the paint, but it was nowhere to be seen. I tried to remember if I had used it all before we moved to Polarisville, but my brain couldn’t seem to load my memories. I checked ⅓ and yyxy’s rooms as well, but they didn't have the paint either. I sighed and trudged back to my room to inform my roommates that I was going to have to go to the store to buy the automotive paint. 

“Anyone know where I can find automotive paint in this town?” I called out loudly.

“Are we all out?” Jungeun called back.

“It looks like it.”

“I know where you could find it,” a quiet voice spoke up. 

I scanned the apartment to try to find the source of the voice. I finally saw the small girl sitting at the kitchen table. Yeojin was staring at me in a concerned manner that made me anxious. 

“Really? Where?” I asked, walking up to her.

“There’s a hardware store a few minutes away from here. But, Jinsoul… are you okay?” 

Her question took me by surprise and unfortunately made Jaehyun return back to my mind. I tried to think of how to respond to her. Of course I wasn’t okay. The remorse I felt for stealing Jaehyun’s car was plaguing me. 

“I’m fine,” I lied with a fake smile. 

Yeojin frowned and narrowed her eyes at me. “No you’re not. You look distressed. Come on, Jinsoul, what’s bothering you?”

I sighed and considered lying again, but I knew Yeojin was going to continue to pester me until I told her. “It’s- It’s… Just about some guy,” I finally muttered. 

Yeojin looked at me in surprise. “A guy?” 

“Yeah,” I answered, not interested in telling her all the details. 

“What guy? Did you have a break up or something?” Yeojin asked.

“A break up? That’s funny. No, you have to be dating someone in order to break up with them,” I answered with a slight smile. 

“Ah, so it’s a guy you like,” Yeojin responded with a smirk.

My eyes instantly widened in surprise. “What? No!” I quickly clarified, my cheeks beginning to burn. 

“Fine, fine. If you say so,” Yeojin said with a knowing smirk. 

I groaned and turned away from Yeojin in embarrassment. Was she right? Did I like Jaehyun? I mean no one else had made me feel guilty about my work. Even if I did like him it was no use. I had stolen his car. And what made things worse was that it was right after he told me about his ex who stole his wallet. My heart plummeted at the thought of how betrayed Jaehyun would feel if he ever found out that I stole his car. Oh no. I had fallen for him, hadn’t I? 

“So, who’s this guy?” Yeojin asked.

All her questions surprised me. I never thought that quiet Yeojin would ever care enough to ask me what was wrong. It would have felt more touching if I wasn’t so miserable and filled with regret. I just couldn’t seem to get my mind off of Jaehyun and what I had done. 

“His name is Jung Jaehyun,” I wearily responded. “Have you ever been to that seafood restaurant, Jung’s Palace?”

“Yeah, a few times, why?”

“He’s the son of the owners.”

“Ah. Yeah, I’ve met Mr. and Mrs. Jung before. I’ve heard about their son but I’ve never met him.”

“Well, then you obviously haven’t gone to Jung’s Palace on a Monday night,” I joked with a small smile.

“No, I can’t say that I have,” Yeojin replied with an amused smile. 

My talk with Yeojin was really starting to lighten up my mood, even if we were talking about Jaehyun, and I couldn’t help but feel grateful for the young girl. She had first seemed cold and quiet, but now I could tell that she was just shy. She just needed someone to open up to her and then she would do the same. Even though she didn’t seem to get along with the rest of the Loona members, I managed to have somewhat of a friendly relationship with her.

“Actually,” I began, hesitantly, “Jaehyun’s the one whose car I stole.”

Yeojin’s eyes widened a bit and she looked at me with pity. “I- I’m sorry, Jinsoul,” she softly said, taking my hand to comfort me.

“Hey, it’s alright,” I lied with a smile. Jinsoul, stop lying to yourself. I sighed, knowing I was right and looked at Yeojin. “Who am I kidding? I shouldn’t have taken the car,” I admitted with a frustrated groan. 

Yeojin looked at me with pity and opened her mouth to speak and then awkwardly closed it immediately. It looked like she didn’t know how to respond to my stupidity. I didn’t blame her. 

“Hey, you said were going out to get automotive paint for the car, right?” Yeojin suddenly asked softly. 

“Yeah, why?”

Yeojin looked at me thoughtfully before responding. “Stay here. I’ll go and get it instead. Hyunjin and Heejin are going out anyway so I'll go with them.”

I looked at Yeojin, shocked, and simply nodded, not knowing what to say to that. She sure didn’t have normal means of comforting others, but I was grateful nonetheless. Yeojin texted the two ⅓ members that were leaving and then left the apartment. I climbed back into bed with a lot on my mind. I felt so miserable. More miserable than I had ever felt. What was I supposed to do now? I considered my options and then suddenly thought of the most reckless thing I could do. Well, maybe not the most reckless, but it was still pretty reckless. I couldn’t live like this any longer. If stealing one car led me to this much pain, I didn’t want to continue. Sure, I had been living as a criminal my entire life, but there were other career paths I could begin. And Loona had enough members… But if they knew I wanted to leave in the middle of a scam, they wouldn’t let me. They would find a way to convince me to stay. But if I silently ran away without a trace… It was a crazy idea, but I couldn’t suffer any longer. I needed to leave. But running away… I didn’t want to hurt the Loona members like that… I shut my eyes and tried to get some more sleep and drown out all the thoughts I had about leaving Loona. I would worry about that later.


	15. Jisung

I parked my car in the parking lot of the closest hardware store to the bakery. I reached out to open the door when my phone started ringing. I peered at the screen to see who was calling. I sighed at the name on the screen and reluctantly took the call.

“I told you, Chenle, I’ll be at the bakery a little late. My mom wanted me to pick up some automotive paint for her car or something like that. I already told all this to you and Kun but I guess you weren’t paying attention,” I wearily said into the phone.

“Ok, but get here quickly before I lose it,” Chenle answered. 

I rolled my eyes at my dramatic friend. “Isn’t Kun there to help you?”

“That’s not what I meant. And yeah, Kun’s here, but he brought someone here with him,” Chenle grumbled. 

A weary sigh escaped me as I realized who Kun brought along with him. “Is it Jaehyun?”

Chenle gasped, surprised. “Yeah, how did you know?”

“Because of how annoyed you sound. Now, the more you keep me occupied the longer it’ll take me to pick up the paint.” 

“Then learn how to multitask,” Chenle shot before hanging up. 

I rolled my eyes and stepped out of my car. I walked into the hardware store and mindlessly wandered around looking for the car paint or whatever it was called. I quickly looked around for it in order to get back to the bakery as soon as I could. I didn’t want Chenle to make a scene again. I stumbled upon an aisle that appeared to be filled with paint cans, and began to observe the aisle to see if it had what I was looking for. 

“Would you hurry up already?” I heard someone who was in the same aisle as me say. 

“Yeah, we don’t have all day,” another voice said.

I tried to ignore them and find what I was looking for. I kept my eyes peeled on the paint cans as I made my way down the aisle. Finally I found what I was looking for. Automotive paint. I scanned over the colors in deep thought. I realized that my mom had never told me which color to buy, so I picked out a dark blue color. As I reached for the paint, another hand reached for another paint can near me. I grabbed the can I was looking at and then backed up to let the other customer grab their paint can. 

“What color are you getting, Yeojin?” one of the voices piped up. 

I looked up at the mention of the name Yeojin. I was shocked to find that the young girl who normally came to the bakery was standing in front of me. It was weird to see her at the hardware store instead of at the bakery. Huh. I guess she was also buying automotive paint. I watched as the small girl turned around to face the two brunettes standing behind her. 

“I thought you didn’t care?” Yeojin simply asked. 

The girl who had asked Yeojin appeared flustered and then turned to the other brunette and laughed. “I don’t. Now hurry up. Heejin and I have somewhere to be we don’t have the time to babysit you.”

Yeojin quietly sighed and crossed her arms as she looked up at the two girls with a weary expression. “What makes you think I need a babysitter? I’m just as capable as you, Hyunjin. And you too, Heejin.”

The girl who was apparently named Heejin scoffed. “Who are you kidding? We all know Haseul picked you because she felt bad for you because you’re an orphan like her.” 

Yeojin somehow managed to keep her cool and blankly stared at Heejin. “Let’s go pay for this paint now and get back home so I can give this to Jinsoul.”

“Home? I thought I told you Heejin and I have somewhere to be. Find another way to get back,” Hyunjin sneered as she and Heejin turned to leave the store. 

I usually liked to keep out of other’s business, but these two girls were being excessive. 

“If you took her here, then you should take her back,” I suddenly called out to Heejin and Hyunjin. 

Yeojin’s eyes widened for a split second and the two brunettes immediately spun around in anger to face me.

“What do you know?” Heejin sneered. 

“Yeah, stay out of this,” Hyunjin added. 

“Well, I’m just saying. Isn’t it manners to bring someone back home if you brought them somewhere?” 

“If you’re so bent out of shape because of manners, then why don’t you be a gentleman and give her a ride?” Hyunjin asked with a smirk.

I looked over at Yeojin to see her staring at him in shock. I didn’t have the time to drive Yeojin home, and the two girls expected me to say ‘no’. But I couldn’t let them have the upper hand. I usually tried to stay a calm person, but these girls were starting to make my blood boil. Why would Yeojin even get a ride from people like that? 

“Sure, I’d be glad to,” I stated.

A smirk almost slipped onto my face as I watched Heejin and Hyunjin’s expressions change from smug to shocked. 

“Oh, um, I’m okay,” Yeojin quickly said to me. “I’ll just walk or take the bus.”

I quickly realized that my offer may have been uncomfortable to Yeojin since I was a stranger to her. And since I was an adult and I didn’t even know if she was. 

I looked back over to Heejin and Hyunjin to see the amused, smug expressions return to their faces. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t let them win this. 

“Then at least let me take you to the bakery. That’s where I’m headed,” I said to Yeojin.

She continued to give me a confused look, but I watched as she considered my offer. “Sure,” she finally responded. I had a feeling she was going to be won over by the bakery. She was in there all the time after all. 

“You’re really going to take a ride from a total stranger?” Heejin asked in shock.

“He’s not a stranger. He works at the bakery that’s near our apartments,” Yeojin stated. 

She then began to walk towards the exit of the store to pay for the paint, and I quickly caught up with her. 

“Alright, why did you do that?” she asked, annoyed.

Her annoyance didn’t surprise me, and I was speechless for a moment. I couldn’t pinpoint a direct answer for her. “You shouldn’t let those girls push you around. How was I supposed to let people like that have the upper hand on you?”

“Is that because you think I’m smaller and weaker than them?” Yeojin dryly asked. 

“No. And besides, I didn’t want to hear their banter with you any longer,” I added as I paid for my paint. “You don’t have a car, do you?” I asked Yeojin. 

“No,” she responded, taken aback by my question. 

“Well, then what’s the car paint for?”

Yeojin stared at me in shock. “Why are you so nosy?”

I shrugged. “It was just a question.”

Yeojin gave me an amused look in response. “I’m buying it for a friend.”

“As a present?”

“No. She’s not feeling very well so I went out to get it for her,” Yeojin explained, amused.

“Oh.”

I awkwardly waited for Yeojin to pay for her paint and then began walking towards my car in silence. I wasn’t used to giving others rides, so it felt awkward to have someone sit beside me in my small, old car. Yeojin appeared just as awkward and uncomfortable as her gaze would never land on me. She just awkwardly looked around my car and then fiddled with her phone once our eyes met. 

“Are you sure you want me to take you to the bakery and not your home?” I asked. 

Even though I didn’t want to make an extra trip to wherever this girl lived, I wanted to suggest it anyway to be nice. 

“Oh, no, I’m fine. I’ll walk from there. And didn’t you say you were going to the bakery anyway?”

“Yeah,” I awkwardly responded. 

The awkward atmosphere continued for the entire car ride. I tried to think of topics to talk about, but nothing crossed my mind. So I just stayed silent. Yeojin was so silent I almost forgot she was in there. I decided to just focus on driving instead of what to say to Yeojin. I began to pull into the bakery’s parking lot when my phone rang once again. I groaned in frustration and didn’t even bother to look at the screen to see who called. I knew it had to be Chenle again. 

“Well, um, we’re here,” I awkwardly told Yeojin as I opened the car door. 

“Um, well, thanks, I guess, for the ride,” Yeojin awkwardly thanked me as she began to walk towards the bakery.

I watched her head towards the bakery in surprise. I had thought that she was going to go back to her house once I brought her to the bakery, but who was I to refuse a customer? I quickly walked behind her and braced myself as I entered the bakery. 

“Jisung!” a loud voice called.

I ignored Chenle and walked straight to the counter. In front of me were Kun, Jaehyun, and Chenle sitting at a table. The sight of Chenle and Jaehyun sitting at a table together surprised me. Maybe Chenle was more mature than I thought. 

“Jisung, save me. Kun wanted me and Jaehyun to have a civil conversation, but it seems like Jaehyun doesn’t know the meaning of civil,” Chenle complained, glaring at Jaehyun.

Alright, I take my previous statement back. I cleared my throat and gestured to Yeojin. Chenle looked at Yeojin for a moment before jumping off of his chair and joining me behind the counter. 

“What took you so long?” Chenle hissed at me. “I’m telling you, Jung Jaehyun is going to be the death of me.”  
I rolled my eyes at the all too familiar dramatics and turned to take Yeojin’s order, only to find her staring at Chenle wide eyed. 

“Oh, hey, Yeojin’s back,” Chenle called out with a smile. “Um, are you alright?” he asked, noticing her surprised expression. 

“Did- Did you say Jung Jaehyun?” she whispered to Chenle as she leaned forward towards him like she was trying to whisper a secret into his ear or something. 

Chenle gave her a weird look and nodded. “Yeah, why? You know him?” he whispered back.

“Not exactly,” she hesitantly whispered. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked with a frown.

Yeojin ignored me and began to order from Chenle. I looked out the window to see three cars parked in the parking lot of the bakery. Chenle’s car, my car, and Kun’s car. Did Jaehyun not drive here?

“Did Jaehyun come here with Kun?” I asked Chenle. 

“Yeah. Jaehyun lost his car or something,” Chenle answered distractedly as he got Yeojin’s order ready. 

“How do you lose a car?” I asked, confused. 

“That’s what I said,” Chenle answered with a smirk. 

“It was probably stolen,” Kun spoke up. 

Jaehyun’s car was stolen? Or missing? Jaehyun was usually an orderly and organized person, there’s no way he just lost a car. But stolen? Again? It couldn’t have been the same person. A few years ago Jaehyun was dating a girl who was only dating him because he was rich. She stole his wallet on a date and he never saw her again. Even though I wasn’t close to Jaehyun I still knew the story. 

“Where did you see it last?” I curiously asked. 

Jaehyun sighed and gave me an annoyed look. “I’m tired of telling this story, but I was at my parent’s restaurant and drove there using my car and when I left it wasn’t there. And my keys were missing, too.”

“Don’t your parents have security cameras in their parking lot?” Chenle asked snarkily. 

“Yeah, but they were shut off for some reason,” Jaehyun explained with a confused frown.

“Ah-hah! So your parents did it,” Chenle exclaimed, amused.

Jaehyun glared at him and Chenle simply smirked in return. Wow. Chenle was ruthless. He was still at it with Jaehyun even though Jaehyun’s car had just been stolen.

I noticed that Chenle had left Yeojin’s food on the counter in order to respond to Jaehyun, so I picked it up to give to her. When I turned to face Yeojin, she was wearing the same shocked expression as earlier. I saw her face turn pale as she looked at Jaehyun. As soon as she saw me looking at her quizzically, she wiped the shocked look off of her face and quickly grabbed her food and began to quickly walk towards the exit of the building.

“Actually… there was a girl who I was eating with that night… Her name is Jenny Jung,” Jaehyun admitted hesitantly. 

Yeojin stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned to face Jaehyun. “Jenny… Jung…?” she suddenly asked.

Jaehyun gave her a surprised look. “Yeah.. Why? Do you know her?”

I saw Yeojin’s eyes widen for a split second. “Oh, um, it’s just I have a friend named Jenny Jung. It’s probably not the same person though,” she awkwardly explained as she continued to walk towards the exit. 

“Oh, is it the same friend you were buying that car paint for?” I asked. 

Yeojin spun around and I saw a look of panic flash in her dark eyes for a moment before she awkwardly laughed. “Oh, no, that’s a different friend.” 

She then quickly sped out of the building. I watched her leave, puzzled. Why was she so afraid of what I had said? I was just wondering. But something bugged me. Nothing Yeojin had said seemed convincing. Although it was my policy to never trust anyone, Yeojin seemed especially suspicious. The way she would awkwardly speak when she was flustered. She had to be lying. I had a feeling that she did really know the Jenny Jung that Jaehyun knew. And that she did buy the paint for her. But why was that such a big deal?- 

Wait. My eyes suddenly widened as all my thoughts came crashing together and I tried to sort them all out. Could Yeojin have bought the car paint for Jaehyun’s car? That her friend Jenny Jung stole from Jaehyun? No, that had to be a stretch. 

“Jaehyun… do you think that girl you were eating with could have stolen your car?” I asked Jaehyun. 

Kun, Jaehyun, and Chenle all looked at me in surprise. “What? I don’t know… I- Why would she do that?” Jaehyun defensively answered.

I frowned at Jaehyun’s surprising response. Didn’t he want to figure out what happened to his car? “Well, do you think she could have done it?” I asked.

“Well…” Jaehyun hesitated before sighing. “I guess. I mean… she did leave a while before me because her friend was in the hospital or something. But I don’t understand, why would she have stolen my car?”

“Did you two get along?” Chenle asked.

“No.”

“Maybe that’s why. Or maybe she liked your car. Or maybe she had a deep-seated grudge against you. Or maybe she didn’t want to be eating with you. Or maybe she had something against your parents. Ooh, or maybe she’s apart of a rival seafood restaurant-”

“That’s enough, Chenle. I’m not in the mood,” Jaehyun irritatedly shot at Chenle. 

“Well lucky for us, I am,” snapped Chenle. 

“Hey, stop it, you two. Jaehyun, do you have a way to contact that Jenny girl?” Kun asked. 

“No,” Jaehyun said with a sigh. “But I don’t want to believe that she stole my car.”

“Why? Do you like her or something?” Chenle asked. 

Jaehyun hesitated before shrugging. “Well, I better go. Kun, I’ll take the bus. I’ll see you later.”

And with that Jaehyun was gone. But the three of us that were left in the bakery were distracted. It seemed as though Kun and I were still thinking about what happened to Jaehyun’s car. Chenle appeared to be puzzled over something else. After a few minutes I finally asked him what was wrong.

“That Yeojin girl… Her name is Im Yeojin,” he finally said.

What? What was that supposed to mean? 

“So?”

“She never told me her last name…” Chenle said, confused.

“Ok, then maybe Im isn’t her last name.” 

“But, I’m positive I’ve heard of her before…” Chenle frowned, confused. 

I had never heard of her before. I only knew her from her visits to the bakery. I looked over at Chenle to see him furiously typing something on his phone. After a minute he suddenly shoved his phone in my face in surprise. 

“Here it is. It’s an article about her. Im Yeojin. See, her picture’s in the article too. They did an article about her because she graduated from Polarisville University last year,” Chenle explained, scrolling through the article.

They wrote an article because some girl graduated? Wait, Yeojin didn’t seem old enough to have graduated from college. Or maybe she just looked young. Her height probably contributed to that. She was about a foot shorter than me. “Why’d they write an article about her? Was she so dumb that they didn’t expect her to graduate? Oh, or is she famous or something?”

Chenle looked at me like I was stupid and pointed to the article on his phone. “She’s 18.”

18? So she is an adult. Wow, I would have guessed 15 or 16. Wait, she graduated last year from college? And she’s 18 now? Oh, ok, now I understood why they wrote an article about her. 

“She was 17 when she graduated from Polarisville. But apparently she didn’t go on to get her masters degree or anything,” Chenle explained.

“Oh. So does she have a job now? Like a scientist or a government agent or something? Oh, or is she a teenage spy?” I asked. 

Chenle looked at me and rolled his eyes. “Jisung, you’ve been watching too many movies. There’s no such thing as ‘teenage spies.’ But an actual genius has been in our bakery multiple times. Isn’t that crazy?”

I simply nodded and returned back to work as I tried to process the news. Yeojin and I were the same age, but she had already graduated college. Yet she didn’t act all high and mighty just because of her brain and degree. But she was definitely hiding something about Jaehyun’s car. For some reason everything today had seemed to revolve around her. There seemed to be so many individual pieces of this puzzle but I couldn’t seem to piece them together. Maybe if I had even more pieces I could start to piece together the obvious ones.


	16. Hyejoo

A pitch black, eerie room was all that surrounded me. I blindly tried to wander through the room in order to find a door of some more, when my ears started ringing. My breath became heavy and my head started to spin. I yelled out into black nothingness and all I heard in response was the shrill shriek of my own echo. I loudly screamed once again hoping it would penetrate whatever walls surrounded me. Panic struck me as I realized that no one was near me. I tried to raise my foot to take a step, but it wouldn’t budge. The dizziness suddenly overcame me and I collapsed onto a hard, cold surface. I furiously pounded on the ground, my breath becoming heavier by the second. Where was I? Why was I alone? Why was I… Why… I blinked in and out of consciousness when I suddenly heard screams coming from outside the room I was trapped in. A loud pounding sound erupted from where the screams were coming from. Loud, panic stricken yells reached my ears and sounded familiar. I fought to stay conscious in order to recognize the voices. The more horrified screams I heard, the more I was able to realize who was screaming. The other Loona members. It had to be them. What were they doing here? Were they here for me? I mustered up enough energy to raise my head to try to see where the voices were coming from. My voice trembled as I tried to call out to them. They heard me and drowned me in fear by voicing all their alarmed concerns. Why was I separate from them? Dread enveloped me and I began to tremble in terror. My brain began to shut off and let the darkness take over as I slipped into unconsciousness. 

Suddenly my eyes flew open and I sat up in my bed, trying to catch my breath. I felt bitter, warm tears cling to my cheeks as I inhaled and exhaled deep breaths to attempt to calm down. I looked out the window to see a sea of black covering everything in its path outside. The only source of light in the room was the weak blue glow of the numbers that my alarm clock was illuminating. I peeked at the alarm clock to check the time. 5:23. Although it was pretty early, I was wide awake anyway, so there was no use in trying to go back to sleep. Besides, if I went back to sleep that nightmare would have another chance at haunting me.

That nightmare was all too familiar for me. I’ve had that nightmare for years. The screams of the Loona members were added in after I joined Loona. Even though I’ve dreamt of that nightmare many times, it sent me into a panic attack and a cold sweat every time. Jiwoo- who was sleeping on the bunk above me- was used to it by now. She was now able to sleep through my thick sobs. So far, nothing was able to stop that nightmare from haunting me. I had gotten used to it, but that didn’t make it less terrifying. Everytime I woke up from the nightmare I would turn on the flashlight on my phone to make sure that nightmare was all of a sudden a reality, and I would quietly creep into the kitchen and make myself a warm, soothing cup of tea. 

I grabbed my phone and quickly turned the flashlight on. Light poured out of the phone and I waved it around the room to make sure everything was as it was supposed to be. I tried to be as quick as I could for Jiwoo’s sake. My legs began to shake as I approached the door to my room. I took a deep breath and lunged towards the door and swiftly opened the door. I shuddered at the eerily creaking of the door, but trekked on towards the kitchen. As I got closer, I noticed light coming from the kitchen. Was someone up? I tensed as I cautiously continued my walk. Even though I was alone, I was usually able to make the walk due to the adrenaline that came along with the nightmare. But this time there was light coming from the kitchen, and faint whispers as well. I had seen that Jiwoo was still asleep, so maybe Sooyoung and Chaewon had woken up. I walked towards the kitchen table to find Sooyoung and Haseul sitting down and talking. They both looked at me in surprise once they noticed me.

“Hyejoo? What are you doing up?” Sooyoung asked, concerned. “Did you have that nightmare again?”

I nodded, my mouth too dry from fear to respond. Haseul looked at me with pity and gestured for me to come join them at the table. I trudged towards the table and sat down next to Haseul. 

“What are you two doing up?” I asked, my voice quivering. 

“Well, I woke up a few minutes ago and couldn’t go back to sleep so I called Sooyoung to see if she was up,” Haseul softly explained. 

“I wasn’t. Until I got her call. I had forgotten to mute my phone so the loud ring woke me up, and Haseul told me she couldn’t go back to sleep and wanted to talk to someone,” Sooyoung dryly added. 

“Is- Is everything alright?” I asked Haseul, finally able to find my voice. 

I knew Haseul liked to get up early, but her exhausted expression and the dark rings around her eyes concerned me. 

Haseul gave me a sad smile and sighed. “Hyejoo… What do you think about the new member, Yeojin?”

A confused look crossed my face as I remained speechless for a few seconds. Yeojin? I didn’t really know a lot about her. She hadn’t been a part of Loona for that long so we hadn’t worked together before. My mind went back to the day I found out that Jeno was our contact. That was about the only interaction I had with Yeojin. 

“Um… I- I don’t really know much about her… But she seems nice… Why?”

“Oh, it’s just that… Well… Yesterday when Heejin and Hyunjin came home they were complaining about her. They didn’t understand why I would choose her to join us and thought we were better off with just 11 members. And when she had first joined Yerim told me that Jungeun and Jinsoul weren’t exactly warming up to her. Hopefully that’s changed. I really want her to be welcomed here,” Haseul said with a sigh. 

I was surprised to see Haseul take an interest in Yeojin and care about her so much when she had only known her for a couple of weeks. Obviously Haseul saw something in her that the others did. And I didn’t have anything against Yeojin. I didn’t just didn’t know her well. And it was hard for me to get to know other people because my fear seemed to be so off putting to others and I didn’t want to be bothersome and clingy. 

“Why are you so interested in Yeojin?” Sooyoung asked Haseul with a frown. 

Haseul pondered the question for a moment before answering. “Well… To be honest, I envy her.” 

“You envy her? Why?” Sooyoung questioned, taken aback.

“Because… She graduated college,” Haseul simply replied.

Neither Sooyoung or I knew how to respond to that. We knew going to college was Haseul’s goal that she had postponed in order to continue to run Loona. But, wait. Yeojin graduated from college? I thought she was only 18… That made her the only Loona to graduate from college. We were all too focused on our work or indifferent on college to attend. I was never interested in college. I was comfortable here working for Loona. 

“She’s graduated? Already? Isn’t she only 18?” asked Sooyoung, shocked. 

“Yeah. That’s another reason. She’s technically a genius and could go on to do so much more, yet she chose to join Loona,” Haseul went on to explain. 

I wondered why Yeojin had chosen to join Loona. If she graduated that young, then she must have had many more opportunities than a small group of con artists. 

“You do seem to trust her. You sent her to meet our contact and give him the original paintings. Usually you’re the one who does that,” Sooyoung said. 

“Yes, well, I wanted to give someone else a chance to do it. And she does seem to have a lot of potential. But speaking of our contact,” Haseul began, her eyes darting to me, “I heard that he came here to talk to you yesterday, Hyejoo.”

That’s right. I had forgotten to tell Haseul about Jeno’s offer for me to work for him. It still struck me as strange and I couldn’t exactly pinpoint his intentions, but I at least wanted to know Haseul’s opinions on it. 

“Yeah… he- he did. Actually… it was kind of strange… He said… He said he wants me to work for him…” 

I watched as both Sooyoung and Haseul stared at me wide eyed. 

“Work for him? But, we’re already working with him…” Sooyoung said, confused.

“That’s what I said…” 

“Why do you think he wanted you to work for him?” Haseul asked, confused. 

“I don’t know. He kept talking about how interesting and fascinating I was.”

“Ah, so he likes you,” Sooyoung said with a knowing smile.

I felt my cheeks turn red as I turned to Sooyoung, taken aback. “Wha-What? No, he just wants to work with Olivia Hye.”

Sooyoung gave me a weary look and rolled her eyes. “Hyejoo, you may not have a lot of experience with men, but let me tell you, if a man tells you that you’re interesting and fascinating, and wants you to work for him, it’s because he likes you and wants to get to know you more.”

I frowned, mulling over that possibility. Did Jeno really like me? And, why would he? Sooyoung was right, I really had no experience with guys. I had never seen one take interest in me so I wouldn’t know if Jeno liked me or not. But why would he? He just wanted to work with me… That was all… Right?

“That- That can’t be true… But… he did say he wanted to get to know me better,” I slowly said, recalling his words from the previous day. 

“Well… Do you want to do it?” Haseul asked. 

I looked up at her in surprise and thought about her question. A part of me thought it was time to try something new, but another part of me was pretty comfortable with how things were now. I wasn’t much of a daredevil or risk taker. I liked playing it safe and not changing things up. But there was something about Jeno that made me want to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. Maybe his thirst for action had somehow carried on to me. 

“I- I don’t know…” I hesitantly answered. 

“Well, remember you said you’d help me out with the art festival, too,” Haseul brought up.

My eyes suddenly widened at Haseul’s reminder. I had totally forgotten that she asked me to do that. “Oh, right…” I sheepishly answered. 

Haseul gave me an amused look. “Did you forget?”

“Um… yeah… I did…” I honestly said. 

“That’s fine. If you want to work for Jeno at the festival, then go ahead and do it. It’s nice to see you trying something new,” Haseul said with a supportive smile.

“Thanks,” I replied, surprised. 

Haseul was being really supportive of me even though I had been offered to work for someone else. Now I just needed to make a decision, which was always the hardest part for me.


	17. Jinsoul

It had been almost a week since I had stolen Jaehyun’s car, and I had carefully contemplated running away from Loona the entire week. I usually didn’t like to take too much time to make decisions, but this was important. I considered the pros and cons of each choice but I was starting to grow weary of my constant worry about what decision I would make. Finally, I came to a conclusion. I didn’t want to live this life anymore. I didn’t want to remain stuck in a life of crime and never be able to escape it. This was finally my chance to put that behind me and live a normal life. Obviously there were many precautions I needed to take, but it would be worth it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life once I left, but I just knew I had to leave. 

Although it was going to be difficult to run away from Loona, the hardest part was going to be telling Jaehyun the truth. I was planning on stopping by Jung’s Palace on Monday to give Jaehyun back his car and his parent’s paintings, and to tell him the truth. Everytime I thought about telling Jaehyun the truth, my heart started to pound and my mind would shut off. For once in my life it seemed as though I was afraid of something. I would play the scenario of how I would Jaehyun the truth over and over again in my head. I tried to think of the responses he might have, but they all ended in my heart sinking like the titanic. Even if he was going to resent me, I needed to tell him the truth. 

The entire week I had been miserable worrying about Jaehyun. I refused to drive his car and didn’t even want to look at it. I had let Yeojin paint the car so I hadn’t seen it’s transformation. Word had spread around Loona that I was feeling miserable so everyone tried to figure out what was wrong with me. I somehow couldn’t muster up enough courage to tell them so instead I told them I felt sick. They finally left me alone, and I began to plan my escape from Loona. 

It was going to happen on Monday. I was going to tell the other Odd Eye Circle members that I wasn’t feeling good and was going to go shopping to cheer me up, which usually worked for me. In case they would want to go I was going to tell them that I wanted to be alone. Then, I would load my belongings that I absolutely needed, like all my makeup, into cloth shopping bags and put them in the car. I was then going to drive over to our truck and pick up Jeno’s parent’s paintings and his original license plate and put them in the car. And then I would take off. After talking to Jaehyun and having my heart ripped out, I was going to give him back his car and jump onto a bus to who knows where. Alright, I admit it wasn’t a perfect plan, it was a work in progress. But it was going to have to work. I debated on if I should text or leave a note to the members to tell them that I was leaving so they wouldn’t think I was kidnapped or anything.

I pulled out a piece of paper to write up a draft of what I might say to them. I wasn’t the best at pouring my feelings out onto a piece of paper, but I didn’t want my members to feel bad. I did care for them, but they had enough members to pull off the art festival scam. I wouldn’t exactly call what I was doing a betrayal, but the other members might. It was like my conscience had been in hibernation and had only woken up after I stole Jaehyun’s car, and now I couldn’t do anymore work without feeling guilty. 

Throughout the week I had been preparing for the art festival scam with Yerim and Jungeun, but I couldn’t focus. Yerim and I had gone out to the art gallery to scope it out and meet with our client who happened to work at the art gallery. All that occupied my mind was Jaehyun. It caused me to forget about pieces of the plan for the scam and almost call Yerim by her real name instead of her alias. Normally, I would have been concerned at all the mistakes I was making, but I honestly couldn’t have felt more indifferent. Everyday felt useless to me as I wondered what I was even doing with my life. But I didn’t know what I would do apart from Loona. I didn’t really have any other skills apart from lying and stealing. I couldn’t even cook to save my life. I really was pathetic. 

I tried to find other hobbies and interests, but I just wasn’t good at anything else. I couldn’t draw, sing, dance or write. Reading was boring, video gamers were too difficult, bird watching was dull, and instruments were too complicated. I wasn’t athletic, intelligent or imaginative. All I really enjoyed doing was shopping for clothes and makeup and doing hair. But doing my own hair started to get boring around the 100th time I did it that week, and everyone else seemed to be too busy preparing for the scam to get their hair done. Although, I did get to do Yeojin and Yerim’s hair a few times.   
I guess I was good with hair and makeup. Maybe I could do something like that once I left Loona. The Loona members all agreed that I was the best at coordinating disguises for them whenever we needed it. Oh well. I just need to focus on my escape plan, and come up with a plan for how to tell Jaehyun that I was the one who stole his car. That plan was going to take a little more time to come up with it, and I dreaded its arrival, but I had to admit it was inevitable.


	18. Yeojin

I heard the beep beep of the scanner next to the large sliding door as I held my TEAL card up to the scanner. The doors pulled apart to reveal the busy TEAL headquarters. I slid my TEAL card into my pocket and walked into the building. I took the elevator to the top floor of the tall building and knocked on an office door. Jaemin opened the door and greeted me with a smile. 

“Hey, Yeojin. What are you doing here? Are you sure you weren’t followed?” he bombarded me with concerned questions. 

“No one followed me. I’m- I’m just here to use the printer and talk to you,” I said, my heart sinking with every heavy word. 

I couldn’t believe I was doing this. But I couldn’t stall with my mission any longer, and I knew it. Jinsoul… The one who had been the kindest to me, was also the one who was the easiest to catch first. I had frantically looked for another to complete my mission, but it seemed as though there was no other way. 

“Talk to me? About what?” asked Jaemin.

“Well…” I started, hesitantly, “I’ve been informed that Son Hyejoo from Loona was offered to work for Lee Jeno for the art festival job.”

Jaemin narrowed his eyes at me, deep in thought. “Hm… Why do you think that is?” he finally asked. 

I looked up at him, taken aback, and considered the possibilities. I didn’t know why Jeno wanted to work with Hyejoo. I had just heard the news from Haseul. She wanted me to assist her at the art festival in Hyejoo’s place if Hyejoo were to work with Jeno. I knew that Jeno and Hyejoo knew each other and that Jeno knew about Olivia Hye, as it was evident from my first meeting with Jeno.

“I-I don’t know,” I honestly responded. 

Jaemin sighed, exasperated, and wearily glanced at me. “Then you should figure it out, shouldn’t you? I thought you wanted to catch these guys before the art festival. There’s only a few weeks before the art festival, and it doesn’t look like you’ve made much progress,” he sternly said.

I sharply inhaled at his words and my lips rested in a scowl as I scornfully gazed at Jaemin. He was trying to rush me with my mission when he hadn’t even finished his own? He had been working at the art gallery longer than I had been living with the Loona members and he still hadn’t caught Jeno yet. I knew I hadn’t made much progress, but I was working on it. Jaemin knew I wasn’t one to not complete something that was assigned to me, no matter how much guilt I felt because of it. 

“But, if Hyejoo does join forces with Lee Jeno, then she’ll be my responsibility. You won’t need to worry about her then. You better hope she chooses to work with Lee Jeno. That’ll give you at least one person less to worry about,” Jaemin concluded with an arrogant smile. 

I tried my best not to roll my eyes at my cocky foster brother. 

“Now, have you figured it out whose car it was that one of your members stole?” 

I hesitated before slightly nodded, my eyes turned away from him. “Actually… that’s why I need to use the printer here… And if you excuse me, I better get to that,” I quietly excused myself, not bothering to hear Jaemin’s response before leaving the room. 

Jaemin had always told me not to get wrapped up in emotion because our job had no place for emotion. That was easier said than done. I had tried feeling apathetic towards the Loona members, but that changed when Jinsoul had started to open up to me. How was I supposed to betray her after all the effort she put into making me feel comfortable as a part of Loona? Jaemin would say that it was just part of my job. The Loona case was my first undercover mission, and I hoped it was my last. I couldn’t take this anymore. Perhaps the more undercover cases I went on, the more callous my heart would become and maybe I wouldn’t harbor as much guilt as I did. 

I was grateful for Jaemin’s family fostering me, but there were times where I wished that I hadn’t been fostered by leaders of a government spy organization. Jaemin’s mom had also been an orphan and felt the need to reach out to me and take me into her home, but sometimes it had felt like they were just using me for my brains. I had enrolled in college when I was 13, and I could have started earlier, but I halted my studies when my parents passed away when I was 11. 

When I was taken in by Jaemin’s family they wanted to train me to join TEAL right away, but I wanted to go to college. They had suggested doing both, but I wanted to focus on college. We had seemed to have conflicting interests about my life, but I wouldn’t let them control my life. I wanted to live my way and not according to my foster parents interests to weaponize my brain. My mother’s dream for me before she died was to graduate college, which was something she never got to do. My father had told me that she was a brilliant student, but she had dropped out of college after she had me. She wanted her focus to fully be on raising me. 

And then they passed away in a car accident when I was 11. Leaving me with no family willing to raise a young girl. So I went into the foster care system. Finally, I went to live with Jaemin’s family and attend college. They already had two children to take care of, but they always tried to be supportive of me. After I graduated from college, that’s when they made their move to have me train to become a TEAL member. A spy, essentially. They never talked a lot about their work, so I didn’t really know what to expect. They began to train me, and then I became an adult. I didn’t want to bother them any longer by staying in their home, so I looked for a home of my own. That’s when they announced that they wanted to embark on my first undercover mission. They wanted me to infiltrate a group of con artists named Loona and catch them before they pulled off a large art scam at a local art gallery. I reluctantly accepted, not knowing what to expect, and the next week I was thrown into an apartment with 3 other girls and told that I was the newest member of Loona. I had no intentions of forming any relationships with the girls, but obviously that changed. But I had to somehow put that aside to complete my mission.

I reluctantly trudged towards the computer and printer on the top floor of the TEAL building. I logged into the computer, my mind screaming for me to stop, but I didn’t listen to it. I opened a document and my fingers flew onto the keyboard and began to type on their own. I re-read my message over and over, my brain trying to get me to delete it, but… I couldn’t. I couldn’t help but regret my choice as I watched the paper fly out of the printer. I slowly picked it up and debated crumbling it up, so I quickly stuffed the paper into my purse to drown those thoughts from my mind. I couldn’t be doing this… Why did Jinsoul have to be the easiest to catch? 

I tried to clear my mind as I walked to the bus stop. I closed my eyes as I waited for the bus and tried to let the autumn breeze calm me down. My heart started pounding loudly as I boarded the bus and as it grew closer and closer to my destination. My legs grew weak as I stepped off the bus and walked into the small bakery. The bell above the door chimed as I stepped inside the bakery and both Chenle and Jisung looked up at me in surprise. I bet they wondered why I stopped by the bakery so often. Well, today I wasn’t there as a customer. I took a tense breath and pulled the piece of paper out of my purse as I approached Jisung. 

“Jisung? Can I talk to you?” I asked, my voice shaking.

He looked up at me in surprise. “What?” 

“I- I just need to talk to you for a minute,” I mumbled.

Jisung and Chenle exchanged confused looks, but Jisung stepped out from behind the counter towards me. I sat down at a table near the window and gestured for Jisung to do the same. I held out the piece of paper towards him and he blinked in confusion in response.

“I need you to give this to Jaehyun the next time you see him,” I said.

Jisung gave me a look of confusion as he reluctantly took the paper from me and began to unfold it.

“Wait!” I frantically interjected. “Don’t look at it, please. It’s- It’s just about who stole his car…”

“You know who stole Jaehyun’s car?” Jisung exclaimed in amazement. 

I slightly nodded. “Um, yeah… Just… Just please give it to him. And don’t tell him who gave it to you,” I said, quietly. 

And with that I quickly dashed out of the bakery, slightly hoping that Jisung didn’t give the note to Jaehyun. I don’t why I chose Jisung to give the note to Jaehyun, but I had found out that Jaehyun was good friends with the owner of the bakery’s son, Kun, and that Jaehyun often stopped by the bakery. After our previous interaction at the hardware store, I hoped that Jisung would blindly trust me enough to deliver the note. 

I didn’t want to think about what would happen next. I just had to complete my job no matter what. If only I could find a way around that…


	19. Hyejoo

Taking chances and stepping out of my comfort zone weren’t exactly my favorite pastimes, but there was something about Jeno that made me gravitate towards decisions that I wouldn’t have normally taken. That’s why, after a lot of inner debating, doubting, and hesitation, I finally decided to step out on a limb and get more information from Jeno. The fact that I was actually approaching him with interest about the job was a rarity for me. Sure, I hadn’t come to a full conclusion yet, but I was getting there. 

I realized that I didn’t know his phone number or which apartment he lived in, so I asked the rest of the Loona members if they knew. I knew he lived on the same floor as I did, but I couldn’t remember which room it was. Thankfully Haseul knew. Next, I had to find someone to take me. Although it was only across the hall, according to my weekly tests, there was no way I could make it all the way to his apartment without feeling nauseous or dizzy. Haseul had pushed the idea of me going by myself, but just thinking of walking all alone in that wide hallway made my stomach churn. 

“I really think you should at least try to make it there by yourself. Just count it as one of your weekly tests,” Haseul suggested. 

“But- But what if I do make it there? I also have to walk back…” I reminded Haseul. 

“I think you’re always overthinking it, Hyejoo. You can’t live depending on others to walk you across a hallway forever,” Haseul warningly responded. 

I knew she was right…. But she also didn’t understand… I couldn’t be left alone. There was never a time where I hadn’t felt sick to my stomach and scared when I had been left alone. I felt bad for the other Loona member for having to deal with me, but what could I do?

I decided to do my test for the week to see how far I could get. I tried to be brave, but it just wasn’t a word in my dictionary. As soon as I shut the door behind me I was overwhelmed with a sense of loneliness. I looked around to see no one near me. Just a wide, empty hallway. My breathing started to become heavy and I came to the realization that I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t even take one step. Why was I so pathetic? Why did I have to have this fear? Why couldn’t I have been afraid of something else? I had been so used to being used to my fear that now it was just too much for me. A wave of anger washed over me. How was it that I couldn’t even take one step? I tried to peel my foot off of the floor in desperation, but it wouldn’t move. I frantically tried to reach my arms behind me to grab a hold of the doorknob and walk back inside my apartment, but my flailing arms couldn’t seem to grab the doorknob. I felt my legs begin to grow weak, but I was desperate to not pass out. I leaned back against the door and almost fell in the process. I took a deep, soothing breath and tried to calm myself down. I closed my eyes and pictured myself in the comfort of my own room. With my eyes still closed I stood up straight and was finally able to take a step. I didn’t want to bump into anything, so I took tiny steps. I held out my arms in front of me and was finally able to feel a wall. I was pretty sure I had made it across the hallway. I slowly turned my body around to go back- still picturing myself in my room. I picked up my foot to take a step, when I heard a voice call out my name. The soft, male voice that was calling my name in concern brought me back to reality. My eyes flew open in shock and I saw Jeno next to me, giving me a look of concern. My eyes darted around, realizing that I was in the hallway and not my room. I tried to shut my eyes and focus again but all I could picture in my mind was Jeno. I tried to open my mouth to say something to him in vain. My mouth was sealed shut and as dry as the desert. My legs finally proceeded to give out and I tried one final time to call out to Jeno as I collapsed and let darkness encase me.

When I woke up I had a pounding headache. I shut my eyes, trying to go back to sleep, but they opened on their own. I looked around at my surroundings to realize I wasn’t in my apartment. Wait, where was I? I frantically sat up on the couch that I had been lying on. The apartment looked similar to my own, but the furniture was different. It didn’t seem to be the other Loona unit’s apartments, so where was I? 

I tried to recall the previous events, but I couldn’t seem to remember what had happened. All I remembered was that I had successfully walked across the hallway by closing my eyes and pretending I was in my room. What had happened after that? I furiously racked my brain trying to piece together the memories. 

“You’re awake,” I heard a voice softly say. 

I immediately spun around to see Jeno facing me. Jeno? A wandering memory of him calling my name and me opening my eyes to see him suddenly filled my mind. Wait, was I in Jeno’s apartment? Did he bring me here after I passed out?

“Wha- What happened?” I managed to get out, my voice dry and raspy. 

“You passed out in the hallway and I brought you here,” Jeno softly said, concerned. 

Memories of me crying out to Jeno and then collapsing suddenly rushed back into my mind. And then after that... Jeno brought me to his apartment? 

“Why-... Why did you bring me here?” I curiously asked, my voice still hoarse. 

“Well… My apartment was closer than yours…” he fumbled through his words. 

I surprised myself by allowing a small smile to cross my lips. “I- I was planning… on coming… here anyway,” I admitted quietly. 

Jeno looked at me in surprise. “You were? Why?”

“I- I- wanted to talk to you-” a splitting headache interrupted me and caused me to groan in pain. I felt my head pound as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“Are- Are you alright?” Jeno gently asked. 

“I- I’ll be fine.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, you- You said you couldn’t be alone… So… Why were you alone?” Jeno hesitantly asked.

“I- I-” I hesitated. 

I felt awkward about telling Jeno about my weekly tests, but I didn’t know what to respond with instead. It didn’t help that my headache was making me lose focus. I desperately felt like lying back and resting more. My tired eyes were fluttering open and shut even though I tried my best to keep them open. 

“I- I- I need some rest,” I weakly said before slipping back into unconsciousness. 

When I finally regained consciousness Jeno was still standing near me. I was still in his apartment? I groaned as I remembered how I had fallen asleep after I had just gotten up from passing out. Jeno must have been really concerned about me. 

“I- I’m sorry,” I weakly said. 

Jeno turned around to face me at the sound of my voice. “You’re awake?”

I weakly nodded. “I- I didn’t mean to fall asleep…”

What had I been thinking? How could I have fallen asleep at Jeno’s apartment? I inwardly groaned in frustration.

“It’s alright, Hyejoo. If you’re not feeling well, then I don’t want to stop you from getting rest.”

“Well… Um… I- uh- better get back to my own apartment now…” I awkwardly stuttered, standing up. “Thanks,” I sheepishly added, turning around and walking towards the door. 

I suddenly froze as my hand gripped the doorknob. My breath began to get heavy once again as I realized that I had no one walk me back to my apartment. My eyes wandered to Jeno as to remind me that he could walk me back. But I didn’t want to inconvenience him again.

“Hyejoo? Are you alright?” Jeno asked with a frown, as he walked over to me. 

“I- Can you walk me back to my apartment?” I quickly spat out in one breath. 

Jeno looked at me, taken aback, and then gently smiled at me. “Of course,” he simply agreed, putting his hand over mine on the doorknob in order to turn it and open the door. 

He walked out of the apartment, unfazed, while I stared at him, not able to get the warm feeling of his hands on top of mine off of my head. I tried to shake the thought out of my head and I walked out of the apartment. I braced myself as Jeno closed the door. I stared forward at my apartment, looked over at Jeno to remind myself that I wasn’t alone, and I lifted my foot to take a step. To my surprise, my two feet gracefully began to walk without stopping. I noticed that my whole body seemed relaxed, as opposed to my tense state earlier. Somehow I was able to glide across the hallway like it was nothing. Was it the extra sleep I got that made me able to relax? Or was it the fact that I always seemed to be comfortable around Jeno?

My mind replayed all my interactions with Jeno, and in all of them, though I was still my awkward self, I wasn’t as tense as I usually was with strangers. Whenever I met someone new it usually took me a while to become comfortable with them, but somehow it wasn’t like that with Jeno. He had always made me feel comfortable. I looked up at Jeno in awe and saw that he had been staring at me in surprise. 

“Wha-What’s wrong?” I suddenly asked, confused as to why Jeno appeared so surprised. 

Jeno thoughtly gazed at me before answering. “Before you collapsed… I saw you trying to walk across the hallway… You had your eyes closed and I thought something was wrong so I came up to you, only for you to pass out. I didn’t understand why you were walking alone since you said you couldn’t be alone. How is it that just because someone else is next to that all of a sudden you’re able to walk so easily? I saw you earlier. You looked frozen in place. You could barely lift up your foot. You have no idea how distressed that made me,” Jeno softly admitted, looking away from me. 

“Distressed? Why?” I asked.

I didn’t want him to become distressed over me. I didn’t want his pity. I received pity from everyone, and it was draining. They had no idea how much I wished for this useless fear to leave me. But it continued to plague me and I just couldn't seem to escape it no matter how hard I tried.

“Because you remind me of someone,” Jeno muttered, clearly uncomfortable, as he avoided eye contact with me. 

I reminded him of someone? I didn’t want to be nosy so I responded with an awkward, ‘Ah,’ and dropped the subject. 

Once we arrived at my apartment I turned around to thank him.

“Earlier… You said you wanted to talk to me. What was it about?” Jeno suddenly asked.

I blinked in surprise and tried to recollect all the thoughts I had before I passed out. I knew I wanted to ask him about whatever job he wanted me to do, but I couldn’t remember any specific questions I had. I tried to think of some on the spot but my mind failed me. I sheepishly looked up at Jeno and opened my mouth to tell him that it was nothing, but for some reason totally different words came flooding out of my mouth, and there was no stopping them. “You know what you said earlier about wanting me to work with you? I’ll do it.”


	20. Jinsoul

Chapter 20: Jinsoul

Finally it was the day I had been dreading. Monday. Last week I had also been dreading Monday, for that was the day I stole Jaehyun’s car. And the Monday before that was the first time I went to Jung’s Palace to pick up the paintings. I had only known Jaehyun for two weeks, yet it felt much longer. How I managed to fall for someone as rude as Jaehyun in that short amount of time was a mystery to me, but somehow I had done it. I regretted stealing his car every second of every day, and I knew I had to make it right. Even if he did resent me for the rest of my life. 

Just thinking about leaving Loona also filled me with guilt. I had given them no reason to think that I would suddenly leave, but that’s what I was going to do. I had tried to mask my guilt and sadness and hopefully it worked. I had tried to write many letters to the Loona members explaining my situation and why I had to leave, but I just ended up crumpling up each letter and ripping them to shreds so that no one could view their contents. I wanted to leave them on a good note, and writing a goodbye letter was too bittersweet for me. So I resumed my plan to silently leave and cover it up as shopping.  
When the time came, around 7:30, I informed Jungeun, Yerim, and Yeojin that I would be going out to go shopping and wanted to be alone. They didn’t suspect anything because they knew I had been feeling miserable. Little did they know that was actually my goodbye to them. I wondered how I would be able to lug large shopping bags full of my things passed them, but suddenly an idea came to me. As expected, Yerim asked me what was in my shopping bags, as I carried them towards the door. 

“Ah, I need to return some things that didn’t fit me,” I lied, my heart heavy as I walked out of the door. 

I contemplated turning around and staying at Loona, but I couldn’t turn back now. I trekked on towards Jaehyun’s car, a remorseful feeling washed up on me as I climbed into the car. I loaded up the bags and drove over to our truck. I silently and quickly grabbed Jaehyun’s original license plate and his parent’s paintings and loaded them into his car. I quickly drove out of the apartment complex’s parking lot and onto the road. Now there really was no turning back. A part of me was screaming at me to turn around. I knew I was crazy for doing this, but once I talked myself into doing something, I couldn’t talk myself out of it. Actually, I guess that wasn’t all that true. A few years ago I had talked myself into joining Loona, but now I was leaving it. I wished for the best for each of the Loona members and hoped that they didn’t hurt too much because of my absence. 

I began to regret not writing a note. I should have at least said goodbye to them. This could have been the last time I would see them and I couldn’t even remember the last thing I said to each of them. Hopefully it was something nice. 

Nerves started to overtake me as I pulled up to Jung’s Palace. My legs felt weak and as if they couldn’t stand on their own as I parked the car and brought out the box of paintings I had collected from this restaurant two weeks ago. I put Jaehyun’s license plate, car keys, and everything that had previously been in the car into the box and braced myself as I walked into the restaurant. I had been so nervous that I had carelessly thrown on the first thing I found in my closet and didn’t even bother to put on jewelry or do my hair. 

I began to feel numb as I looked around the restaurant. Mrs. Jung greeted me and told me that Jaehyun was in the back with his father. When she asked me what was inside the box I blanked. I awkwardly explained how it was for Jaehyun and she gave me a surprised look. I watched as she walked over to the back of the restaurant to get Jaehyun for me. My mind remained blank as I watched Jaehyun approach me. 

“Jenny,” he greeted me with a smile.

No. No. No. ‘That’s not my name,’ I wanted to scream. Everything Jaehyun had known about me was a lie. And I was the one who had planted the lie in his mind.

I plastered a fake smile onto my face and tried to speak despite my nerves. “Can we sit down? We need to talk.”

Jaehyun nodded, surprised and walked to the back booth we had sat in before. I saw him eying the box in confusion, but he didn’t say anything to me. I looked at him and tried to think of what to say. Of how to say this.  
“Jaehyun… listen…” I began, my voice shaking. “I’m not who you think I am.”

Jaehyun looked at me in surprise, and I noticed that he was holding a folded piece of paper in his hand. “Oh?” was all he said in response. 

I couldn’t help but be taken aback by his response. That was all he had to say? I gave him a confused look but tried to continue on with what I was trying to say. 

“That truth is… Well, first of all, my name isn’t Jenny Jung. It’s Jung Jinsoul. And- This- This belongs to you,” I nervously said, handing the box to Jaehyun. 

Jaehyun’s indifferent reaction hadn’t changed, and it began to worry me. My stomach did cartwheels as I watched Jaehyun open up the box. I watched him frown as he started pulling out the contents of the box. After he had looked through the box he simply turned back to me without saying anything. What? Was he clueless or actually indifferent? I awkwardly waited for him to say something back to me, and finally, he did. 

“Well… This definitely explains this note I got,” he said, holding up the piece of paper I saw him holding earlier.

My heart dropped as my nerves took over and I started freaking out over what was in that note. “N-note?”

Jaehyun slowly nodded and unfolded the note to reveal a printed message. “I received this earlier from someone I know. He said that someone gave it to him. Was it you?”

I read what was on the note in shock. I re-read the first sentence on the note several times, and the weight it carried completely crushed whatever spirits I had. Jenny Jung- who’s real name is Jung Jinsoul- is the one who stole your car. It proceeded to list how Jaehyun could find the car in the parking lot of the apartment complex I lived in, and it even listed the address of the apartment complex. My mind went blank and I felt numb as I refused to meet Jaehyun in the eye. He already knew? Wait, who wrote this note?

“I- I didn’t write it…” I said, confused. 

Jaehyun gave me a confused look. “You didn’t? Then who did?”

“I- I have no idea,” I honestly responded. 

Jaehyun gave me a pointed look and held up the piece of paper. “Well? What am I supposed to think of this? Especially after you come here, reveal your real name, and bring this by,” he said, gesturing at the box. 

I had prepared for this moment all week, but now that it was actually here… I was completely speechless. I tried to form something… anything… to say back to Jaehyun, but instead I just sat there, frozen. I tried to figure out who it was that wrote the note. It had to be someone who knew my address and that I had taken the car. But the only people who would know that were… the other Loona members? But I couldn’t figure out why any of them would betray me like that. My focus suddenly shifted back to Jaehyun as I realized that he was awaiting an answer. 

“I- I-” I sighed and finally brought myself to look Jaehyun in the eyes. “The truth is…. Yes. Whoever wrote that note was right. I- I did steal your car. And- I- I’m… I’m sorry,” I admitted. 

I watched as hurt flashed in Jaehyun’s eyes for a second before he stared at me for a minute as if to study me. “Then why did you come back and return this stuff?”

“Well… I wanted to make things right. Your car is parked in the parking lot, by the way,” I sheepishly added. 

So far Jaehyun hadn’t yelled at me or lashed out in anger, but he didn’t seem to have any reaction. He almost seemed apathetic and indifferent, which somehow managed to hurt more than if he had just yelled at me. 

“Then why return my parent’s paintings? It’s not like you stole them, too.”

I thought carefully before I answered Jaehyun. I didn’t want to expose Loona as well. “Well- I-... Actually… they weren’t going to be sold at the art festival. Someone else painted replicas of them and is going to sell them as originals at the festival. I- I just wanted your parents to have the originals back,” I quietly explained. 

I waited for Jaehyun to say something in response, but he appeared to be deep in thought. “Why did you steal my car? Is it because you don’t have enough money?” he finally asked, a hint of concern showing in his voice. 

He was asking me why? Did he not expect me to lie or something? I just explained to him how I was a liar and a criminal who had stolen his car, and he still expected me to tell him the truth? I was going to tell him the truth anyway, but I didn’t know if he would even believe me. And why did he seem concerned about if I had stolen it because I didn’t have enough money for a car? 

“No… Money had nothing to do with it… Actually… Stealing cars is easier than buying them because I’ll be easier to track if I physically buy a car.”

“And you aren't concerned about getting caught if you steal a car?”

“Well… No. I- It’s not like yours is the first car I’ve ever stolen,” I admitted. I hoped he realized that no criminal in their right mind would admit to these things if they weren’t sincere. 

“Why are you confessing these things to me?” Jaehyun finally questioned.

Ah, there it was. I tried to pinpoint a reaction from him, but I realized he was just going to continue his little questionnaire before reaching a conclusion.

“Because I- Whenever I’ve stolen something I’ve never felt guilty about it, but after I stole your car… I couldn’t stop beating myself up because of it… Do what you want with the information. Tell the police, I don’t care. I- I just wanted to apologize, and call me selfish, but I wanted to see you one last time before I leave,” I explained, showing more vulnerability than I would have liked. 

Jaehyun’s eyes slightly widened in surprise. “Leave? Where are you going?”

I had just told him that I had lied to him and stolen his car and he was concerned about where I was going?

“I- I don’t know…”

I really didn’t know. I was just going to hop on a bus and go wherever it took me. I didn’t necessarily have a plan for the future yet, but I knew I just needed to get out of town first. 

“You don’t know? You’re- You’re not homeless are you?” Jaehyun asked in surprise.

“What? Well… No, I have a home. But I- I’m just leaving it,” I tried to explain.

“Why?”

Why? What did he mean ‘why?’ 

“Um… Because… Well… If I stay at where I’m currently living I’ll continue to get roped in to crime… and I don’t want that anymore.”

Jaehyun remained deep in thought as he stared at me. His silence made me nervous again. Finally, after a moment of saying nothing, Jaehyun looked at me and sighed. 

“I must be crazy…” I heard him mutter to himself.

I looked up at him in surprise and tried to figure out what he meant by that. By his reaction I assumed that he didn’t mean for me to hear that. 

“Do you have a place to stay in… wherever you’re going to,” he asked.

I instinctively frowned, confused. Why did he care? 

“Um, no, but I’m sure I’ll find somewhere to stay,” I said, trying not to let my curiosity get the best of me. 

“Stay with me.”

My jaw dropped at those three simple words. I stared at Jaehyun like he was crazy and played the sentence back in my brain to make sure those words actually did come out of his mouth. 

“I’m sorry, what?” I loudly exclaimed in shock. 

A few customers near us gave us annoyed looks because of my loud outburst, but I was too taken aback to care.

“Stay with me. Just until you find a house, of course. I have the room and it seems like you have nowhere else to go,” Jaehyun explained, awkwardly avoiding my gaze.

“But- Why? Jaehyun, I just admitted to lying to you about, well, everything, stealing your car, and being a con artist. And you’re asking me to live with you? Why?” 

Jaehyun hesitated before looking at me in the eyes. His gaze was soft and not harsh and angry like I had expected. 

“Because… Well, for one, you have nowhere else to go. And, secondly, I don’t know why you could come to me and do this unless you really were sincere and wanted to change. Now, how about we start over? I want to get to know the real you now, Jung Jinsoul.”

I continued to stare at Jaehyun, wide eyed. How was it that he was being so gracious to me? And why did it make my heart flutter so much? Wait, what did he want to start over? Our relationship? What kind of relationship did we even have? Were we friends? I mean… I’m pretty sure I was hopelessly falling for him, but I didn’t know how he felt about me. And he wanted me to live with him? Was he being nice? Or… did he possibly like me? Hah, that was ridiculous. After all I had admitted to, there was no way he would like someone like me. 

“So? Um, Jinsoul? What do you say?” Jaehyun asked me.

Just hearing him saying my real name made my heart flutter… And don’t get me started about the soft way his dark eyes peered in my own… 

What the heck? What was I saying? Jinsoul, get a grip, girl. Wait, Jaehyun was looking for a response wasn’t he? 

“I mean… if it’s alright with you… I- I don’t want to be a bother,” I said, truthfully.

Jaehyun softly looked at me and smiled tenderly at me. “I want to help you, Jinsoul.”

Once again, Jaehyun’s soft words left me speechless. I just couldn’t get all the confusion I felt out of my mind. Jaehyun continued to surprisingly take this well, and I couldn’t figure out why. 

“Why? I don’t understand. Why are you trying to help me? Why aren't you upset or angry or anything like that?” I abruptly asked in confusion. 

Jaehyun pondered the question for a few seconds as I awkwardly awaited an answer. “Well… I personally think it’s pointless to hold on to useless anger, but that’s not to say that I wasn’t angry at first,” Jaehyun casually admitted.

Both Jaehyun’s words and casual manner of speaking took me by surprise. I tried to form a response but I just continued to stare into Jaehyun’s seemingly warm eyes. How was one supposed to respond to that? Out of all the possible scenarios of this moment I had imagined, the one that was happening before me was nothing close to anything I imagined. Maybe I had misjudged Jaehyun. It just didn’t make sense. His ex girlfriend had taken advantage of him, and so had I, yet, he wanted me to live with him? Wow, these kinds of people exist? 

All my life I had manipulated others to get what I wanted, and my lack of morals made that easier for me. Stealing, lying, manipulating, it was second nature to me. But because of some guy I’d only known for a couple of weeks, I wanted to change everything. Actually, it was more like I felt like I needed to change everything. After years of ignoring it, I finally tuned into what my conscious was screaming at me. Expecting the worst case scenario, I told the truth for once in my life and came clean about everything. And for what? I had no idea. I just had this feeling inside of me that was what I needed to do. 

I couldn’t think of any reason why Jaehyun was being so… kind to me. If I had been in his position, I'm sure I wouldn’t have been as forgiving. I had stolen from him, lied to him, and most likely gave him flashbacks of his heartbreak from his ex girlfriend. 

“Are you insane? How could you-... Why are you…” I trailed off, my voice sounding frail and weak. I tried to finish my thoughts, but I couldn’t pinpoint what I was trying to ask. Why I had opened my mouth in the first place, I had no idea. 

“Yeah, I guess I am insane. To be honest, I have no idea what I’m doing. Just… when I heard you say you were leaving and no place to stay… I felt like I needed to help you. I don’t know why. Actually…” Jaehyun hesitantly began, avoiding eye contact with me. “When I first got that note… I didn’t believe it at first. I thought that there was no way that you could have stolen my car. But then… I thought about that night again and everything made sense. Why rushed off so quickly… Why the security cameras were off… Of course I was upset. I- I wanted to resent you…. I did. But… I- I quickly realized I couldn’t. I began thinking of the reasons why you stole the car. If you couldn’t afford one and if you needed money or anything. My mind started swarming with thoughts that were all just concerns about you… I didn’t expect to ever see you again… So when you walked through that door… I had no idea what to think… I guess I expected more lies… But it didn’t matter to me. As long as you were alright. And now that you’ve come clean about all this… How could I stay angry? I want to help you.”

Help me? He wanted to help me? The weight of his words crushed me and a sudden wave of emotion came upon me. Before I knew it, hot tears were falling off of my face. I couldn’t control them, they just kept pouring down. I relentlessly tried to wipe them away, but it seemed they were endless. I knew Jaehyun was probably concerned about the sudden sea of tears, and I tried to calm myself down long enough to get an explanation out. What was happening? I had never broken down emotionally like this since I was young. 

“I- You can’t… I- I don’t… I don’t deserve this…” I managed to get out, looking down at my purse to avoid Jaehyun’s gaze. How was I supposed to look at him when I was this much of a mess? 

“Sure you do. Every deserves a second chance,” Jaehyun softly spoke.

A second chance, huh? I guess I was in need of one in so many aspects of my life, or rather, my whole life. But why would someone like me deserve that? I had already screwed up too many times. I felt like I’d already used up my second chances. Jaehyun was so determined to help me… When I had done nothing for him… I hadn’t even apologized to him about lying or stealing his car… or anything. Yet he had still invited me into his home. How was it that two simple words could be the hardest words for me to say? Maybe because I had no experience with apologies. Well, better late than never, I guess. 

I quickly dried my tears and felt my nerves take over as I tried to form my apology in my head… But nothing I could say could make up for anything I did. I slowly raised my head up to face Jaehyun, who was still watching me with a concerned look on his face. 

“Jaehyun, I-” my throat suddenly grew dry. I panicked and found myself at a loss of word yet again. Wow, I was pathetic. I took a shaky breath before letting everything out. “I- I’m sorry… For everything. For lying to you about… well, again, everything, and for stealing your car- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do any of that. Well, technically I guess I did mean to steal your car. I mean, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Yeah, that’s it,” I awkwardly stammered, my words pouring out like a waterfall. I yelled and myself to shut up and inwardly groaned at the mess of my apology. “And I’m sorry for that pitiful apology,” I added with a weak smile.

“Don’t be,” Jaehyun responded, amusement gleaming in his eyes. “I appreciated it. Now, where’s your stuff?”

“My stuff?” I blankly asked. 

“Yeah, didn’t you say you were leaving town? I’m assuming you packed things to take with you. Do you have them with you? I want to load them into my car. Er, you did bring my car here, too, right?” Jaehyun asked, the amused look in his eyes still shining. 

His car. Oh man, what was he going to think when he saw how I redecorated it? I was willing to bet money he would find it amusing. I racked my brain trying to remember where I put my things…. Right. I had forgotten to take them out of Jaehyun’s car, hadn’t I? Huh. That would’ve been weird if this had gone badly. 

“Yeah. Your cars here. And my stuff’s still in it,” I weakly answered, still feeling awkward. 

“Oh, ok,” Jaehyun said, obviously also feeling awkward. “Here, let’s leave from the back so we don’t have to explain any of this to my mom,” Jaehyun suggested. 

My eyes began to widen at the mention of Mrs. Jung. What was she going to think when her son suddenly had his car back and brought a girl home with him? And what about her paintings? 

“But what about the paintings?” I brought up, gesturing to the large paintings that were sticking out of the box I had given Jaehyun.

Jaehyun stared at the paintings, deep in thought before answering. “Hm… I’ll think of something. I’ll just take them with us for now.” He grabbed the box and proceeded to walk towards the back door of the restaurant. I instinctively followed. The nerves I had felt when I first arrived had come back as we made our way to Jaehyun’s car. 

I had done it. It was over. I heaved a sigh of relief and the realization that the moment I had been dreading was finally over hit me. But now I had new things to worry about. Like, what the heck was I going to do now? I couldn’t stay with Jaehyun forever. And what was I going to do with my life? I usually tried not to worry about the future, but now that I had given up Loona, I couldn’t help it.

“Nice paint job,” Jaehyun commented with an amused grin as we arrived at his car. 

See? Amused. I knew it. I sheepishly grinned in response and awkwardly climbed into the car. Jaehyun, not seeming to be a particularly chatty person, silently began to drive to his house, which didn’t help me feel less awkward. My phone started to buzz with text messages from Yerim asking if I was going to come home soon, and it took everything I had not to respond, or tell her everything. I decided to power my phone off, but before I could Yerim decided to call me. I frowned, wondering if there was something wrong. All the worst case scenarios played in my head as I let the phone rang. Jaehyun looked at me quizzically.

“Aren't you going to answer your phone?”

“Oh. Um… no. It’s… It’s just my… roommate.”

“Roommate? Doesn’t she know you’re leaving?” Jaehyun questioned me, confused. 

“Well… not exactly. I was going to tell them… I just never got to it,” I said, trying to brush it off. I didn’t want to have to come up with an excuse to justify why I never let the rest of the Loona members know I was leaving.  
The real excuse was probably fear. I thought they may try to find me and get me to join Loona again. Or maybe they would suspect that I ran off with Jaehyun’s paintings to sell. Man, I really should’ve written them a letter at least. I mean, what were they supposed to think when I never showed up to the apartment again? Guilt pricked me as I stared at Yerim’s contact in my phone. It wouldn’t hurt just to at least say goodbye, would it? I quickly called Yerim before I could talk myself out of it and immediately regretted it. 

“Hello? Jinsoul, where are you?” I heard Yerim’s voice ring through my phone.

No, no, no, no, no. Hang up, Jinsoul, hang up!  
I stared at my phone screen, speechless. Why had I called her? I couldn’t just hang up, she would find it suspicious. But what was I supposed to say? 

“Hey, Yerim. Sorry, I- uh, had my phone turned off. I’m still at the mall, shopping. Why? Is something wrong?” I managed to squeak out, trying to sound as calm as possible.

“Yeah. Haseul went to the truck to get those paintings you got a couple weeks ago to take them to the art gallery, but she couldn’t find them anywhere in the truck. We thought you might know where they are.”

My eyes grew as wide as saucers as I began to panic. Beside me, I saw that Jaehyun was also looking at me in surprise. My brain began to go crazy trying to conjure up another lie. I know I was trying to stop lying so much, but I couldn’t tell Yerim the truth. 

“Um…. No, I’m sure I put them in the truck when I picked them up. Maybe someone moved them,” I lied, trying to keep my voice from shaking. 

“Well… the last person who was with them was Yeojin when she met with our contact, but she said she put them back in the truck.”

“Well…. Then maybe our contact stole them.”

“Jungeun thought of that, but Haseul already asked him about it and she seems to trust him.”

“Wait a minute, Haseul already asked our contact about it? Does she know him personally?”

“Apparently. You know, he lives in the same building as us.”

“He does? Just who is this guy?”

“No idea. Oh, but you know I’ve heard he and Hyejoo have been spending a lot of time together.”

Ooh, really? Hyejoo and our contact?- Jinsoul, focus! I needed to end my conversation with Yerim quickly before she gave me all the gossip about Loona, which in normal circumstances I would’ve appreciated, but oh little did Yerim know that I was not at the mall, but on my way to the house of the man whose car I had stolen. 

“That’s great, Yerim, but I’ve got to go.”

“Oh, are you heading home?”

“Um… What was that? Sorry, I think you’re breaking up, bye!” I hastily said, hanging up from the phone call as fast as humanly possible. 

“Well… that shouldn’t arouse any suspicion,” Jaehyun dryly said after I hung up with Yerim. 

“I know, I know. Not my best work. But it’s not like I could just tell her that I was abandoning Loona. Wait, abandon’s a strong word. Leave would be better, I guess.”

Jaehyun simply chuckled at my ramblings as he continued to drive. Although his eyes were focused on the road, I could tell his mind wasn’t, as he appeared to be distant. After all that had happened tonight, I didn’t blame him. 

“So… What’s Loona?” he asked, finally breaking the silence.

Ah. So that’s what he had been wondering about. I opened my mouth to explain it to him before hesitating. I don’t know why I hesitated. I had already told him that my work wasn’t exactly legal. 

“Well… um… We’re like… A business?” I struggled to come up with a way to define Loona. I mean, we weren’t anything fancy. We were just a group of girls doing whatever to make money. Dang it, why didn’t I just give him that definition? “I mean, not like a business but… You know, it’s kind of hard to describe it.”

“And your work is?”

“Well… you know… Anything really. Right now we’re focused on the art festival scam. Well, they are. I quit,” I sheepishly tried to explain. 

I watched as Jaehyun took this information in. He looked at me as if there was something he wanted to say, but then turned his eyes back to the road. 

“So… This might seem like a weird question,” Jaehyun began, and I braced myself for the rest of the question, “but who’s the short brunette who bought the paint for this car for you?”

What? Wow, I definitely was not expecting a question like that. Short brunette who bought automotive paint for me? Was he talking about Yeojin? Did he know her? 

“Um, you mean Yeojin?” I asked, still puzzled over the question.

Jaehyun gave a small nod. “Yeah, that was her name. Do you think she’s the one who wrote that note about you to me?”

Note? What note? I tried to recall the events of the evening. Ah, right. For a moment I had forgotten that someone had blown my cover. I couldn’t help the frown that tugged on my lips as I mulled over what Jaehyun had said. Yeojin? Blow my cover? Why would she do that? I barely knew her, and from it had seemed to me, we had been getting along pretty well. Maybe it wasn’t even a Loona member who wrote that note. No, that’s crazy, the only people who knew that I stole Jaehyun’s car were the Loona members… 

“Yeojin? Why would she do that? And, how do you know her?”

“I met her a few days ago at a bakery my friend’s family owns. She was with one of the employees who mentioned that she had bought car paint for you. And earlier today, that same employee gave me that note and told me that someone had given it to him to give to me, but he couldn’t tell me who it was.”

“That seems like a stretch,” I hotly snapped. 

Jaehyun looked at me in surprise. “Yeah. I guess it does. But it was just an idea.”

I don’t know why I was getting so worked up. I guess I just didn’t want to believe that one of the Loona members could have betrayed me. Besides, Yeojin was on my side, what would she gain from blowing my cover?


End file.
